


MACHINA:  TRANSHUMANITY (BOOK 1)

by jndetke



Series: MACHINA [1]
Category: Original Work
Genre: Action/Adventure, Cyberpunk, Cyborgs Are Called "Rippers", Discrimination, Eco-fascism, Eventual Romance, Explicit Language, F/M, Global Climate Change, Guilt, Parallels to Modern-day Events, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, Private Military Corporations, Rape/Non-con Elements, Science Fiction, Terrorism, Transhumanism, Transhumanist Revolution, Violence, Weak protagonist, autistic protagonist, implied suicidal tendencies, megacorporation, my first original work - Freeform, posthumanism, somewhat political
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-09
Updated: 2021-03-07
Packaged: 2021-03-15 06:33:31
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 5
Words: 80,469
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29309622
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jndetke/pseuds/jndetke
Summary: After being mortally wounded during a terrorist attack, a civilian scientist named Jacqueline uploads her mind into her own invention: a powerful cybernetic endoskeleton disguised by artificial flesh known as a "Ripper". She then finds herself at the center of a worldwide revolution to redefine the human condition, and has to stop a deadly conspiracy unfolding behind the scenes.  She has to learn how to become a soldier along the way in order to stop the conspiracy, and despite having a new super-soldier body, she finds that it's not as easy as it seems...  especially given that she's autistic.
Relationships: August "Aug" Brand/ Lucas "Lucifer" Rich, Jacqueline "Jack" Newman/ August "Aug" Brand, Jacqueline "Jack" Newman/ Caitlin "Cat" Brand, Jacqueline "Jack" Newman/ Emrik Winter
Series: MACHINA [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2152770
Comments: 2
Kudos: 1





	1. "GENESIS"

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first original work of my own that I've published here! I hope you all like it! This is what I've been working on the most ever since I started writing it (and finished the outline), hence why my fan-fictions tend to take a while to come out. According to my outline, there's going to be 18 chapters; so far I've managed to stick to the outline pretty well, despite that my writing process is relatively organic rather than planned a lot of the time. Regardless, I am excited to see how it turns out!

**MACHINA**

**BOOK 1: TRANSHUMANITY**

**TABLE OF CONTENTS**

ACT 1— “HUMAN”

Chapter 1— “Genesis” … Page 1

Chapter 2— “Rebirth” … Page 39

Chapter 3--- “Transcendence” … Page 70

Chapter 4— “Manufactured” … Page 102

Chapter 5— “Architects” … Page 140

Chapter 6— “Meltdown” … Page 188

**ACT 1— “HUMAN”**

**Chapter 1— “Genesis”**

**Hong Kong/ Transcendence Technologies HQ, Silicon Valley, California, USA**

Here she was again, living in the world of her dreams.

Jacqueline Newman was a scientist, not a soldier. And yet she was about to go into the field with some of the best soldiers August’s private military corporation— a subsidiary of his Transcendence conglomerate— had to offer.

As the company plane that they occupied approached the glowing night skyline of Hong Kong, Jacqueline got adjusted to her new point of view, staring around the walls of the plane, looking at its occupants.

“First time riding in an airplane, cyborg?” said the commanding officer of their squad, Daniel.

“No, and it’s called a Ripper,” said Jacqueline.

Grigori snickered as he tried to light a cigaweed. “What were you sent here to rip?”

“It’s— I’m not sure what you—”

“Don’t answer him,” said Daniel to Jacqueline. “And Griggs?” Grigori looked up, before he lit up his cigaweed. “You do realize she’s piloting the bloody thing, right?”

“We were there for the briefing too, Daniel,” said Megan.

“Guys, go easy on her. This is her first time in the field,” said Caitlin.

“You expect us to go easy on a scientist with no combat experience piloting a killing machine?” 

“Daniel, drop it,” said the man himself as he came into Jacqueline’s vision via her holographic display interface built into her Ripper’s retinas combined with the communicators implanted in its artificial cochleae.

“Yes, sir,” said Daniel. He was looking at the boss too—in the same direction, even—only he was staring at the boss through a screen in his helmet instead.

August said to Daniel, “Don’t let her appearance fool you, Jacqueline’s smarter than the rest of you on the plane combined, and it’s not because she’s got access to a Ripper’s brain right now.”

“It’s not her appearance I’m worried about,” said Daniel, “and it’s not her intelligence, either. It’s her mindset. She hasn’t been on a battlefield before. For starters, it’s not a fucking video game. Of course, maybe it is for her since she’s not actually here, but—”

“I know what you’re getting at,” August interrupted, “but I’ve put my faith in Jacqueline, and so you will as well. What she lacks in battlefield expertise, she makes up for it in how intricately she knows the Ripper’s current model and how to operate it. To her, it’s like a second skin. Out of the team of three dozen or so experts that worked on the successful model, Jacqueline pulled practically a third of the weight.”

“Not to mention that since she’s practically a part of that Ripper, that makes her a hundred times more capable in battle than the rest of you. At least.”

“We’re testing the current Ripper model out to see if it’s fit for a human to control, and for Jacqueline to make note of potential adjustments to make. We’ve got a team of analysts compiling the data from its BISECT to back her intuition up.”

“With all due respect, are you sure this is a good idea, boss?” said Megan. “Lives are on the line, lots of them. This is a bad time for an experiment if you ask me.”

“August was never too concerned about ethics, so why should we be?” said Grigori.

“I’ll pretend I didn’t hear that,” said August.

“Those aren’t my words though,” Grigori said, eyeing Caitlin with a sideways grin. Caitlin frowned and glared at the floor.

Ignoring him again, August said, “Regardless of whether this experiment succeeds or goes south, I’ll handle the PR. Now, have you all been briefed?”

“Yes, sir,” said the majority of the plane’s occupants.

“No,” said Jacqueline, the one exception.

Daniel put a hand to his head.

“All right, then. Caitlin, brief her,” said August.

“Sure, Dad,” said Caitlin as she looked away from August’s hologram for a moment, and spat a piece of partially chewed Juicyfruit gum out onto the floor. “Jack, you know who the Architects are, right?”

“Yes, the terrorist organization responsible for all those attacks against Transcendence.”

“That’s the one. They’re neo-Luddites; they’re afraid of what might happen if technology goes too far.”

“I know; it only will if we use it incorrectly, though.”

“I know. But that’s your belief; theirs is different. The CIA had been searching for the location of a sleeper cell of theirs for weeks when the attack occurred a few hours ago. The Architects have shot up several parts of the city and have now fought to a bloody stalemate at a shopping center in the middle of the downtown district. Casualties are high, and they’re threatening to kill the hostages they’ve taken if the local government doesn’t agree to terminate its contracts with all biotech companies whose machines help operate the city.”

“Transcendence is one of them.”

“Right,” said Caitlin. “We’re going to find our CIA contacts and try to find a way to take down the terrorists while keeping civilian casualties to a minimum.”

“That doesn’t sound like there was much of a plan to begin with.”

“Yeah, well bureaucrats tend to keep us in the dark a lot. Plenty of people don’t trust companies like ours, and the new government in the US is forcing us to take more precautions. We don’t want to cause an incident.”

“There already is an incident.”

“She means we don’t want to cause a bigger one, one that we’d be responsible for,” said Daniel.

Caitlin eyed Daniel; he shut up in response.

“Look Jack, I know you might be a little nervous, but—”

“I have no reason to be nervous. This Ripper model won’t fail.”

“I know,” said Caitlin, “but maybe you should leave the logistics of the mission to us. For now. This is going to be a little more chaotic than you think, but we’ll figure things out once we’re on the ground.”

“All right,” said Jacqueline.

“Faith my arse. What the hell was August thinking adding her to the team?” said Daniel.

“Cool it, Daniel,” said Caitlin. “You just need to see Jack in action. She’ll be better at this than you think.”

“You sound like you’ve actually seen her use the thing.”

“Her invention is incredible; it’s definitely something to brag about,” Caitlin looked at Jacqueline, and smiled.

“If only your relationship with your dad was also something to about,” said Grigori as he put out his cigaweed after blowing smoke in Jacqueline’s Ripper’s face. It didn’t cough since it had no need to. Caitlin frowned at this.

Grigori looked closely at the Ripper’s face, and made a stained yellow grin, the stink of his cigaweed’s smoke not crossing the threshold to sensory input. “She looks like Jacqueline all right, but she’s got the body of a fucking demigoddess. You sure this thing’s a cyborg, kid?”

“The Ripper’s external layer of flesh is generated using nanotechnology that can generate it by utilizing autopoietic technology. Underneath is a flexible endoskeleton powered by a refined, high-density biofuel battery, both made of Transcendence Technologies’ UltraAlloy patent controlled by a—”

“You mean like the Terminator?”

“What’s a Terminator?”

“Err… sorry, I meant Terminatrix,” said Grigori. “The Terminator’s the male model, the one played by Arnold Schwarzenegger.”

Jacqueline looked at him silently in confusion, tilting her head. The others rolled their eyes at Grigori.

Grigori wheezed and choked on his own smoke, and the wheeze turned into a cackle of laughter for a moment. “Do you honestly have no clue who the Terminator is?”

Jacqueline shook the Ripper’s head.

“The movie did come out over half a century ago, to be fair to the newbie, Griggs,” said Megan.

“I didn’t know you could tell time,” said Grigori to Megan, who gave him the finger while pointing her gaze away from him. “So, are you saying you actually came up with the idea for this thing on your own, and then you _made_ it?”

“Yes.”

Grigori raised his eyebrows with a dumbfounded look, then sat back in his chair, and smoked again with a grin. “Kid built a fuckin’ Terminator.”

“No shit. She seems like a smaller one in person,” Daniel muttered.

“We’re here,” said the pilot, which caused everyone to drop their conversation and stare out the window.

“All right. Prep your ‘chutes, people,” said Daniel.

The others put on their parachutes, masks, and oxygen tanks, and walked over to the bay of the plane.

“I don’t need a parachute, though,” said Jacqueline as she walked towards Daniel.

“Of course you—oh, right. You’re a _Ripper._ If you don’t need a parachute, then you don’t need to tell me about it,” said Daniel as he strapped his parachute onto his back.

“But… what do you want me to… ?” Jacqueline looked at the others as they put on their equipment. Caitlin told Jacqueline with her mask on, “Just use your Ripper, Jack. And try not to let the others get you down. Being jerks to people they don’t know is second nature. They just need to be impressed is all, and you can do that easily.”

“I hope so,” said Jacqueline.

“I know so,” said Caitlin.

“Thank you, Caitlin. I’m glad that you’re here to help me get used to being a soldier.”

Caitlin smiled through her helmet’s mask.

“Green light to HALO,” said the pilot as the bay doors opened to reveal the lightning storm raining down on Hong Kong; the colorful lights of the skyline a blur through the clouds and the downpour.

The others leapt off the edge of the bay one by one, first Daniel, then Megan, then Grigori. 

Caitlin patted Jacqueline’s Ripper on the back. “You’ve got this, Jack,” she said.

Waving before she turned around to make the jump, Caitlin waved and said, “I’ll see you on the ground!”

As Caitlin started her jump, Jacqueline stared down at the maelstrom of lightning and rain as the others turned into ants and disappeared into it.

“What are you waiting for? Jump!” said the pilot.

Jacqueline turned her Ripper toward the cockpit.

“Hey! You deaf! I said jump! You don’t want to miss the target zone.”

Jacqueline walked backwards for a moment, then turned around, and ran at the bay and leapt off.

As the deafening thunder overwhelmed her senses, Jacqueline turned the sound down partially back at the BISECT puppeteering chair at her lab in Transcendence Technologies’ headquarters in Silicon Valley.

The other scientists called Jacqueline from their monitoring consoles. “Hey Jacqueline, you’re messing up the signal,” said the scientist named Victoria.

“The thunder is too loud. I can’t focus.”

“Yeah, well now _we_ can’t focus. We need to get as much data as possible, remember?”

“We can’t get as much data as possible if I don’t make the landing.”

“You’re unbelievable, Newman…” said another scientist named Charles.

Jacqueline looked into her BISECT-P helmet and stared into the lightning.

“Altitude 30,000 feet…”

Jacqueline used her mind to turn her Ripper so it was facing straight down. She then activated the Ripper’s cybernetic wings, which retracted from the small, near-impossible-to-notice flaps of skin in its back. She then tucked them so its wings and their built-in biofuel rocket boosters aligned with the direction of its body, and then activated the ignition to the rockets in her wings and legs.

Suddenly her Ripper soared down toward the city at a rapidly accelerating speed. The other scientists went wide-eyed.

“Wow,” said Victoria, “it looks even better in action than it did in the testing labs.”

It wasn’t long before she started to catch up to the others near the 25,000 feet mark. 

“Shit! Guys, I lost track of Megan!” said Daniel.

“Great, what now?” said Grigori.

“You don’t think the storm got her, did you?” said Caitlin.

Then Jacqueline zoomed by them. “Holy—was that Jacqueline’s Ripper?” said Daniel.

“Yeah,” said Caitlin.

“Hey Jacqueline, I don’t know if you can hear me, but we can’t find Megan! This downpour is fucking blinding us! Can you locate her somehow?” Daniel said.

“What?” said Jacqueline.

“Come in! _Jacqueline!_ ”

Jacqueline hesitated for a few seconds before deciding to turn the volume up. “What is it, Daniel?”

“Megan’s not answering comms! Can you see her?”

Jacqueline quickly stopped flying, and scanned her Ripper’s immediate surroundings. She then located Megan’s thermal signature through the blur with the Ripper’s augmented vision.

“I can see her. She’s off course, it looks like her parachute came loose for some reason.”

“Get to her and save her before she dies!”

Jacqueline then corrected the Ripper’s course with its wings and flew toward Megan.

“Altitude 20,000 feet…”

Jacqueline used its wings and legs and their rockets to accelerate and steer toward Megan.

“Altitude 15,000 feet…”

Jacqueline then missed her once, then flipped around to correct course, and grabbed her.

“I’ve got her. She’s barely breathing and the altitude is getting to her,” said Jacqueline. “A piece of hail must have struck her helmet.”

“Shit, that’s bad…” said Caitlin.

“It’s _hailing?_ ” yelled Grigori.

“Jacqueline, listen to me,” said Daniel, “I don’t know if you’ve got something in that Ripper of yours to revive her, but if I’m hearing you right, you’ve maybe got seconds before she dies from lack of oxygen. And maybe a few more before you land. Do something, anything!”

“Altitude 10,000 feet…”

Jacqueline put her hands toward Megan’s chest where her lungs were.

“9,000…”

“Um… Jacqueline… what are you doing to her?” said Victoria.

“8,000…”

The stigmata on its palms began to glow bright green, along with the veins in its head, shoulders, and arms. She had it touch her chest, and managed to revive her.

“7,000…”

She then began to choke and breathe in air. Jacqueline made the Ripper cover the hole in her mask with its hand.

“6,000…”

Megan said weakly, “What the hell’s going on…?”

“5,000…”

Jacqueline then tried to move its body facing forward and hold her in her arms.

“4,000…”

“Why can’t I see anything!”

“3,000…”

“Oh, god… Is that what I think I hear?”

“2,000…”

“Oh, shit! Where’s my parachute? Hello!”

“1,000…”

“Oh, no!”

“ _Deploy. Deploy. Deploy. Deploy._ ”

Jacqueline used the Ripper’s rockets to soften their fall, barely avoiding hitting a skyscraper in the process.

As Jacqueline gradually turned off its rockets to descend the last 10 feet, they landed at a speed that wouldn’t harm a baby.

Jacqueline said to Megan, “Can you walk?”

Megan, breathing heavily, said, “I’m good. Thanks.”

“You’re welcome.” Jacqueline put her down on her feet on the asphalt of the alleyway.

“Jacqueline! We lost sight of you! Did you get Megan?” said Daniel over comms.

“Yes. She’s alive. We’re on the ground, in some sort of back alley.”

“Christ Almighty,” said Grigori.

“Good job, Jack,” said Caitlin.

Once Megan stumbled to catch her balance, she bent over to catch her breath, and shook her head a few times.

“We’re off course. We need to rendezvous with the others.”

“All right,” said Jacqueline, “the GPS map in my BISECT says the landing zone is a klick and a half east.”

“Your what?”

“What?”

“You said ‘BISECT’.”

“BISECT stands for Binary Intelligence Super-processor and Endoskeletal Control Terminal. It’s the supercomputer chip hardwired into the Ripper’s nervous system model. I’m puppeteering the BISECT from my augmented control console here at Transcendence’s headquarters in Silicon Valley.”

Megan stared at Jacqueline’s Ripper confusedly as she said through it, “The peripheral nerves in the Ripper’s arms and hands are what allowed me to pump oxygen into your lungs using nanite swarms containing multiple healing agents to repair them.”

“You’re telling me you kept me from dying by putting tiny machines inside my lungs?”

“Yes.”

“Are they going to come back out?”

“Once their function’s conditions are met, yes, they should.”

Megan looked away from Jacqueline’s Ripper for a moment. “Right,” she said. Hearing gunfire and screaming in the distance, she said, “we should go.”

Jacqueline’s Ripper nodded at her command, and she followed Megan until she got her bearings and its enhanced movement speed caused Megan to fall behind.

Jacqueline headed to the rendezvous point to meet up with the others, where two odd-looking men in stuffy blue raincoats greeted her.

“I had no idea Hong Kong had such a nice view of the Pacific,” said one.

“What?” Jacqueline said.

The men stared at each other, then back at Jacqueline, and the second man said, “Move along, lady.”

“All right,” said Jacqueline, and she went over to wait on a soaking bench for the others to arrive, only for them to arrive twenty-three seconds later.

“I had no idea Hong Kong had such a nice view of the Pacific,” said the first man.

“That’s the South China Sea. And nine times out of ten, the view of the skyline at the edge of the rainforest is better,“ said Daniel.

“We should head somewhere where less people are watching,” said the second man as he eyed Jacqueline’s Ripper.

“Are these our contacts with the CIA, Daniel?”

“Yeah, Jacqueline, these are our C--- _American_ friends,” said Daniel.

The two men looked at each other again for a moment, then the first one said, “She’s with you?”

“Yeah, mate, she’s with us,” said Daniel.

“That bimbo probably just blew our cover. Maybe not to the terrorists, but probably to the local authorities,” said the second one. “We’re in the middle of a damn warzone. Why didn’t she know the passphrase?”

“The latter problem’s hers, the former sounds like yours,” said Grigori.

“Fucking amateurs. You’re late, by the way,” said the first one.

“We landed off course due to the storm,” said Grigori.

“I thought we were the ones who landed off course,” said Jacqueline.

Megan arrived, saying, “sorry I’m late.”

The two men raised their eyebrows at the Ripper and then turned to the others. 

“Weirdly enough, this airhead here is the only one of you who was technically on time,” said the second one.

“Whatever, forget it. Call me Tom,” said the first contact.

“And call me Marcus,” said the second contact. “Welcome to Hong Kong. So, you’re all supposed to be the best squad Transcendence has to offer?”

“Yes, sir,” said Caitlin.

“Well, in that case, your PMC sucks and we’re FUBAR, but we’ve dealt with worse bureaucracy than this,” said Tom. “You got a plan to snagging Khaled’s lieutenant?”

“We’re not here on an intel job,” said Daniel, “we’re here to save the hostages and kill some terrorists.”

“Wonderful. Then just don’t kill the one we’re talking about, Farid al-Haddad. SIGINT picked up word of another potential Architects attack. One way bigger than this,” said Marcus.

“How big?”

“We don’t know. That’s why we need to bag and tag this guy for extraction. We’ll interrogate him after that.”

“Good for you,” said Daniel. “You got any of that intel of yours to get us into the shopping mall?”

“The place is a maze, but we’ve got most of the terrorists’ patrol patterns mapped out thanks to a little recon. They’re threatening to detonate bombs on site and kill hostages if Farid doesn’t get a status report from each of his men every minute,” said Tom. 

“Meaning we have to take them all out at the same time.” said Megan.

“It would work if we had enough manpower to match them.”

“Shit,” said Daniel. “Jacqueline, you think you could take out multiple patrols in under a minute?”

“Yes, I can. It just depends on how far apart they are,” said Jacqueline.

“Wait, wait, wait a second,” said Marcus, “what makes her any more special than the rest of us?”

The others looked at Jacqueline. “That’s confidential,” said Daniel.

“Of course it is,” said Marcus as he studied Jacqueline. “Do you think you could sneak your way into where the hostages are?”

“I can,” said Jacqueline.

“Well, the problem is… according to the terrorists’ phone chatter, they’re in two different spots. And we don’t know where either of them are.”

“I could scan around using my reconnaissance nanites, or hack into the mall’s security camera feeds remotely with the malware in my BISECT.”

“Reconnaissance whats?” said Marcus.

“And what’s a BISECT?” said Tom.

Jacqueline looked at Daniel. He raised his hand toward his neck, and shook his head no along with his hand.

“Nothing,” said Jacqueline. “I can get it done.”

“Right; you’d better,” said Marcus. “All right, I guess that means you’ll take point. The rest of us will have to wait and stalk some of the terrorist patrols along the outer perimeter. If all of us go in at once, the odds are higher that one of us is spotted. Time to go then.”

“Let’s go,” said Caitlin, and the group of soldiers and spies headed towards the shopping mall.

At the shopping mall, the terrorists patrolled the outer perimeter, scanned from the rooftops with sniper rifles, and guarded the entrances to the underground parking lot. They were wearing the Architects’ typical uniforms—black commando suits and masks with their red insignia of the letter H, a plus sign, and a circular “no” sign with the slash through it, engraved on them. Most of them toted AK-102 assault rifles, combat knives, and pipe bombs strapped to their belts. Squads of the local police force were waiting outside in a standoff.

“All right, Jacqueline, time to move,” said Daniel to Jacqueline via his Ripper’s BISECT’s communicator.

“Be careful,” said Megan.

“And good luck,” said Caitlin.

Jacqueline waited for a gap in the terrorists’ patrols, then made the Ripper run toward the wall, and used her wings and a tiny cannon built into her ring fingers to launch a grappling wire and ascend to the roofs.

“Whoa… that… woman… isn’t human,” said Tom while watching Jacqueline from afar with the infrared cameras in his contact lenses.

“You couldn’t tell earlier?” said Daniel.

Jacqueline then activated the Ripper’s skin’s cloaking augmentation to turn invisible before the snipers on the roof noticed it. She heard one of them say something in Arabic and turn his head toward her direction. She did a quiet jogging crouch to a nearby ventilation shaft.

The stigmata on the Ripper’s hands—both consisting of twelve small holes in a circle around one big one on each hand—began to glow red along with the other veins in her cybernetic nervous system. Of course, only she could see their light.

She fired its deadly infrared lasers at the ventilation shaft’s bolts holding it shut, and caught the shaft hatch before it hit the ground, then placed it quietly onto the ground. Staring around for a moment, she quickly crawled into the ventilation shaft.

While she navigated through the mall’s ventilation system, she used the Ripper’s sonar vision to map out the patrol patterns of the terrorists beneath it on her GPS. 

Despite the fact that she had the Ripper’s built-in optical camouflage apparatus on her side, Jacqueline knew that the Ripper wasn’t invisible, nor was it invincible. On one hand, breaking stealth would result in the deaths of more civilians. On the other, getting shot would not only ruin its human outer disguise, but damage its UltraAlloy armor if shot too much. She was worried about what might happen to it if the bombs went off when she attempted to defuse them.

Jacqueline activated the Ripper’s reconnaissance nanites; its veins turned yellow as the tiny, impossible-to-see robots released and entered the mall. Jacqueline then piloted them similarly to how she piloted the Ripper. Getting used to how massive the scale of the mall was to the nanites took a few minutes, but gradually she got the hang of it enough to perform their function.

“I’ve mapped out several of the terrorists’ patrol routes visually from here, but I haven’t found the hostages yet.”

“We already mapped out their routes,” said Marcus over comms.

“You did that using your GPS map on your smartphones,” said Jacqueline. “I’m using the Ripper’s 3-D GPS map combined with sonar vision that helps map people, events, and objects of interest in real time.”

“What the hell’s a Ripper?” said Tom.

Ignoring his question, Jacqueline asked her own. “Marcus, do you know where the security center is?”

“Can’t you just figure it out with _your_ fancy GPS system?”

“Not without a schematic of the mall’s room layout. I figured asking you would save me some time so I don’t have to track the security hub by hacking a security camera remotely and following its CCTV lines to the source.”

“All right; it’s on the fifth floor, above the food court and between the Game Source and American Apparel stores. The door is locked with a keypad; we don’t know the code.”

“That won’t be a problem,” Jacqueline said as she had her Ripper carefully open the vent hatch beneath it, and land quietly using its rockets’ biofuel to hover over the floor for a moment.

She navigated through the mall using its optical camouflage when necessary to avoid detection. The mall had been torn apart by gunfire and explosions, and blood and corpses littered the floors along with destroyed products from the various stores and kiosks. She made note of the terrorists’ patrol routes, and mapped them out on her GPS as well. Using the stairways, she made it down to the fifth floor, sneaking right past the terrorists guarding it without making a sound.

She watched one of the terrorists talk into his smartphone. Translating his speech from Arabic to English in a matter of seconds using the Ripper’s built in databases, she listened to the terrorist say, “We are doing fine here, Commander, no activity to report. Keep an eye on the hostages. If one tries to escape, kill them.”

Jacqueline moved past him.

Seeing the Game Source and American Apparel stores, Jacqueline puppeteered the Ripper toward the security center’s door, and hacked the keypad remotely through it by moving its hand up next to it. However, after she did a scan with its augmented vision, she could see that there were laser trip mines installed behind the door. She could also see three terrorists behind the door.

Jacqueline launched some nanites from the Ripper’s arm, and had them slip underneath the door. She then activated their built-in EMP chaff capabilities, and the lasers deactivated.

Jacqueline then opened the door quietly, but one of the terrorists noticed the door was open.

The leader of the three, who wore several extra red engravings on his armbands and mask, said in Arabic, “Who’s there?”

Jacqueline said nothing.

“You, go check it out,” said the leader in Arabic.

“Yes, Farid,” another responded in Arabic.

At the lab, the others stared in apprehension.

Victoria said, “What are you going to do, Jacqueline?”

“Give me a second to think,” said Jacqueline.

“Well it had better be a second, because you’ve only got a few of them!”

“Jacqueline, come in,” said Daniel. “Do you have an eye on the hostages?”

“What about Farid?” said Marcus and Tom.

Jacqueline’s Ripper’s optical cloak was running low on energy.

The terrorist approached it. 

She had roughly three seconds to act.

Jacqueline blasted the first terrorist in the head with the Ripper’s infrared laser cannon in its right arm, decapitating him, then did the same to the next with the same hand, then used its left arm’s cannon to stun Farid with an electric shock cannon.

“Gurrgh…!” yelled Farid while swearing in Arabic and reaching for his phone.

“What the hell?” yelled Farid. “What are you—"

Jacqueline’s Ripper knocked Farid unconscious with a single agonizing blow to the head.

She used its nanites as utility fog to restrain Farid.

She quickly hacked the security camera feeds, and located the hostages and the bombs.

“Shit,” said Jacqueline back at the lab, “there are bombs at key structures of the facility, not just where the hostages are. The Architects knew they weren’t going to get out alive. This is a suicide mission!”

Jacqueline noticed Farid’s smartphone lying on the ground. “Farid? We’re still with the hostages. Farid, come in; you’re supposed to do a status report.”

Jacqueline picked up the terrorist’s phone.

“Farid, pick up. Is something wrong? Do you want us to detonate the bombs?”

Jacqueline said to the others using her communicator, “Guys, I’m sending you the patrol patterns. If you’re going to kill some of the terrorists on the outer perimeters, I suggest you do it now. The minute just started. Do your best to get to the first bomb where the hostages are and get them out as quickly as possible; it’s on the third floor near the entrance to the movie theater.”

“Have you got one of the bombs defused?”

“No, just Farid.”

“Oh, shit…” said Megan.

“Damn it, Jacqueline, hurry!” yelled Daniel.

Jacqueline activated her biofuel jets to accelerate her speed.

She blasted several terrorists with her laser cannons along the way; she could hear gunfire from the others in the distance.

“Farid, come in!” yelled one of the terrorists from the phone. “We’re hearing a commotion on the first floor! Are you there, Farid?”

Jacqueline was breathing shakily into her BISECT-P console at HQ. Deciding to act, she spoke to the terrorist in Arabic, imitating what she heard of Farid’s voice to the best of her ability since she didn’t think to scan his speech and upload it to the Ripper’s larynx.

“Yes, brother, I’m here. Status report?”

“You don’t sound like Farid. You sound like a woman. What’s your call sign?”

“Shit,” Jacqueline said off of her mic. “Um… _wadaeaan_?”

Victoria put a hand to her head.

The terrorist laughed, and said, “Good guess, American, but it wasn’t your guess that gave you away. Your accent is sloppy,” before hanging up.

“Shit!” Jacqueline said. Quickly, she had the Ripper hurry to the arcade, where the second area where the hostages were being kept at was.

As terrorists came up the escalators, Jacqueline shot them with rapid fire from her Ripper’s dual laser cannons, both using infrared energy now, and boosted over them, kicking several of the terrorists off of the escalator.

As she reached the arcade, Jacqueline launched more EMP chaff at several of the laser trip bombs guarding the entrance. Using the Ripper’s enhanced reflexes and its cannons’ multi-shot ability, she managed to fire several laser blasts in the direction of eight different terrorists at once, burning holes in their bodies before they could react. 

_This is bad,_ Jacqueline thought, _they’re executing the hostages!_

Jacqueline quickly blasted as many of the remaining Architects as she could with a spread shot of laser blasts, knocking them across the room with the collective force of the white-hot energy. Several hostages that were bound, blindfolded, and gagged around her made muffled screams due to the sound of the chaos going on around them.

Three terrorists she missed started shooting the Ripper, putting holes in its external tissue and revealing the UltraAlloy armor underneath.

One of the terrorists swore in Arabic, and yelled, “it’s an android!”

Jacqueline’s Ripper charged at one while using its jets’ accelerators and knocked him off the edge of the floor’s balcony; she then deflected several bullets the other terrorists fired from hitting its skull with its arms. One of them threw a pipe bomb at the Ripper. Jacqueline’s Ripper grabbed the pipe bomb, and threw it back close enough to them before it detonated to dismember the first of the two terrorists’ legs and fill his lower torso with shrapnel, while barely avoiding hurting the civilians in the back. The blast knocked the other terrorist off his feet, and he crawled toward the bomb’s detonator. 

Jacqueline’s Ripper broke the neck of the terrorist with half a body left, then blasted the last terrorist alive in the area with a powerful blast that went right through his heart. The terrorist screamed, and desperately reached out for the detonator.

The Ripper stomped on his hand, then his head, smashing his skull.

She picked up the detonator and looked at it. 

_It’s about to go off!_

Jacqueline looked around.

_But where’s the bomb?_

“Help!” yelled a man behind the Ripper.

Jacqueline turned the Ripper around and found a bomb with a glowing red light and timer matching the detonator’s strapped to the chest of a middle-aged Asian hostage.

Jacqueline looked at the bomb on the man’s chest.

_There’s less than 20 seconds left…_

The man said, “Please help me! I have a family!”

Jacqueline examined the bomb.

_It’s booby-trapped; I can’t hack it. I have to disarm the wires manually, but I don’t know which ones to cut and in which order!_

The bomb had less than 10 seconds left on its timer.

“Listen, whatever you are… I’m the Chinese ambassador; I’m trying to bring stability to this region. I can’t die; I’m too important…!”

But Jacqueline looked around at the other whimpering hostages. 

The detonator had 5 seconds left.

“What are you doing? Help me! Please!” screamed the man.

_4…_

“I’m so sorry…” Jacqueline said.

_3…_

“What… no, no!” yelled the man.

_2…_

Jacqueline controlled her Ripper and had it grab the man, shove him to the floor, dive on top of him, and cover him with its body as best as she could.

_1…_

Back at Transcendence Tech HQ, Jacqueline covered her ears and shut her eyes tight as the bomb went off.

As the blinding flash and deafening sound cleared from her eyes and ears, respectively, Jacqueline stared into her BISECT-P headset again, and found that her Ripper’s artificial skin had been completely ripped off by the bomb’s detonator, most of its UltraAlloy had been shredded, and its endoskeleton was badly damaged, bent out of shape, and emitting electric bolts.

The other scientists stared into the console in equally deafening silence.

Jacqueline tried to puppeteer it so it would stand up on two feet.

As the sound cleared more, he saw Daniel, Megan, Grigori, and Caitlin arrive.

“The hostages are safe,” said Caitlin.

“Where’s the ambassador?” said Grigori.

“Where’s Jacqueline?” said Megan.

“She’s back in California,” said Daniel, frowning at Jacqueline through the static in his Ripper’s BISECT-P console.

“The ambassador’s dead,” said Grigori.

“Shit!” Megan shouted.

“The Chinese are gonna have our heads for this…” said Daniel.

“Forget it, we need to get the hostages still alive out of here!” said Caitlin.

“Right,” said Daniel.

“What about my Ripper?” said Jacqueline through the Ripper, which had a voice that now sounded demonic and full of static rather than human.

“Your Ripper’s scrap metal,” said Daniel, “and it’s just a Ripper. It’s not like the people you put at risk, and the ambassador you just let die.”

“Why didn’t you tell me about the ambassador?” said Jacqueline.

“If you attended the briefing, you’d have known, Jack,” said Caitlin to Jacqueline, before the static started to become too thick to hear through, and Jacqueline’s Ripper collapsed.

Jacqueline stared into her BISECT-P helmet, unmoving for several minutes.

“Attention all employees who worked on the Ripper patent. This is August,” he said over the intercoms at HQ. “Please report to your respective laboratories on the upper floors and get back to work.”

As the scientists left, Jacqueline took her helmet off, and got out of her console chair. 

“Except for you, Jacqueline. You’re dismissed for the rest of the day. Report to my office at 6 AM tomorrow.”

Jacqueline made a slight nod with her eyes still wide open, and headed to get her belongings from her locker.

**The Next Day…**

**Transcendence Technologies HQ, Silicon Valley, California, USA**

Jacqueline walked into the lobby of the Transcendence complex’s main building. She looked at the plush couches in the waiting area; no one was sitting on them. Everyone else was working already. She looked at her reflection on the tile floors beneath her; the aura of fear and shame in her eyes visible as she frowned at it. 

“Hey, Jacqueline, how’re you doing?” said Lauren, the building’s receptionist. 

Jacqueline didn’t respond or make eye contact.

“Right, have a nice day!” she said sarcastically, then added, “Weirdo,” under her breath as she turned back to her computer screen and clicked away at its touchboard. 

She headed to the back of the lobby and crossed the bridge over the indoor pond and trees and called the elevator with her company tablet, her hands shaking as she did this. She squeezed them together to stop the shaking as the elevator descended through the cylindrical fish tank and the doors opened.

Caitlin was waiting for her in the elevator.

Jacqueline said nothing to her as the doors closed and she typed into her tablet.

“I already entered it in,” said Caitlin.

“You’re going to the penthouse, too?” said Jacqueline.

“I wish I didn’t have to,” chuckled Caitlin, “I’d rather not see how grumpy my dad is if he hasn’t had his coffee this morning.” As the elevator doors closed and it ascended up so they could see the Silicon Valley skyline just as the sun was beginning to rise and illuminate its buildings.

Jacqueline said, “Am I in trouble? Is he going to fire me?”

“I doubt it, but I’m not 100 percent sure given it’s Dad,” said Caitlin.

“I never wanted to go into the field in the first place.”

“I know,” said Caitlin. “You did better than you thought you did. Expectations were set way too high from the get-go, but that’s what it’s like being a soldier.”

“How do you do it?”

“I have no clue to be honest,” Caitlin said.

“You always say that. You must know something that I don’t.”

“I suspect it’s more of what I _don’t_ know. I’m just not afraid of the unknown. And I’m willing to risk my life to help others because of it.”

“I want to help others too. It’s just that I’m afraid of dying.”

“I know,” said Caitlin, “and you’re not dying anytime soon on my watch. You’ll be safe here in the labs. You know that, right?”

“I do. But not everyone’s able to be as safe as I am, though,” said Jacqueline as she stared out the window, and put her hand through her hair.

“Well… then we’ll both keep doing our jobs and try to make the world a little bit safer,” said Caitlin.

They were interrupted as the elevator stopped, and the doors opened. Daniel, Megan, and Grigori walked in.

Jacqueline went back to looking out the window as Grigori told Caitlin, “you missed coffee break, daddy’s girl.”

“You forgot to brush your teeth.”

“You can’t forget if you never aimed to in the first place,” Grigori said while tapping his head with his pointer finger, and he laughed in a way that sounded more like a wheeze.

“Why didn’t you defuse the bomb?” said Megan.

Jacqueline turned to look at Megan.

“I didn’t make it in time to defuse it fully.”

“Didn’t look like that to me,” said Grigori.

“Looked like you panicked,” said Daniel.

“Did the other hostages make it out?” Jacqueline asked.

“Barely,” said Megan, “there were other bombs scattered all over the mall that went off. The entire building nearly collapsed on us. Why didn’t you tell us about those?”

“I was too worried about getting to the hostages, until then I didn’t…” Jacqueline trailed off. “It doesn’t matter. Nothing I say is going to excuse the fact that a lot of people died because of what I did.”

Megan looked at Daniel, then Caitlin, and said, “Actually only a few did. The rest got out.”  
“Yeah, and a lot of them are probably going to die anyway once Hong Kong descends into mass riots due to their current political situation with China.”

“Yeah, well, in the end I guess it’s up to our dad to judge whether Jacqueline made the right choice or not,” said Caitlin as the elevator’s ascent started to slow until it reached the penthouse.

Jacqueline walked out first, clenching her fists over her thumbs as she entered August’s penthouse waiting area. 

His secretary, Ellen, greeted them all politely as usual.

“H- hi Ellen. Is August ready to s- see me?” said Jacqueline.

“Yes, Jacqueline. He’s ready to see all of you. Head on in; it’d probably be best that you don’t keep him waiting any longer.”

Jacqueline nodded, and nervously opened the transparent Plexiglas doors to August’s office with her tablet once Ellen gave her access to their controls.

August’s office was a massive room with huge walls and high ceilings; there were neat green carpets, gold-framed paintings that lined the walls, a massive gushing water fountain with an imitation of a Greek marble statue in the middle, and several ottomans, couches, lamps, coffee and end tables next to the sides of the room. The room’s plasma TV screens displayed the Transcendence logo, a lower-case H next to an upper-case T with a cap that moved from its top to its middle, making it look like an h+ sign—the symbol of the transhumanist movement. 

The TVs digital female narrator’s voice softly repeated Transcendence’s slogan: “Welcome to Transcendence, the home of the future you.” On the plasma TV next to August’s large cherry wood desk, the TV was showing the news from Hong Kong on the One-World Media Network.

“ _…yesterday in Hong Kong, the terrorist attack that occurred came to a devastating close as the downtown shopping mall building collapsed due to several bombs placed on site. Fortunately, several civilians that were taken hostage managed to make it out safely. The amount of casualties of the larger attack is currently unknown, but is estimated to be in the thousands. One of the victims who did not make it out of the shopping mall alive was Tao Hsu, the Chinese ambassador to Hong Kong, who was known for bringing about a controversial peace talk between China and Hong Kong after China’s increasing attempts to bring the sovereign region back under its own regime again._

 _Now, we previously mentioned that this attack was another of the several attacks in the last few years perpetrated by the global terrorist organization known as_ Almuhandisin Almuemariiyn, _or, to many more, its English translation… ‘The Architects.’ They claim to be freedom fighters working toward the goal of preventing ‘the oppressive Fourth Industrial Revolution enforced by first world nations.’ Its leader, Khaled al-Amin, has recently gone into hiding after NATO enlisted next generation private military corporations to invade his home nation of Saudi Arabia. As of now, his whereabouts are unknown._

_“At this time, we are not sure if the terrorists’ motives were to sow chaos in the region, but this doesn’t entirely add up with their prior motives. Being seen by many as neo-Luddites, sources claim that they sent an ultimatum to several multinational biotech corporations operating in Hong Kong to remove their facilities and personnel from Hong Kong completely or suffer the consequences, among them the Transcendence conglomerate. Why exactly this wasn’t revealed to the public is not entirely clear at this moment. More on this to come…”_

Jacqueline was staring at the screen when August entered the room from the private part of his office next to his panic room, talking into his cell phone.

“…you want to meet tonight? Why on Earth would you—fine, fine, the situation is urgent, I agree. What? Lucas, come on. We’re partners, you know me better than that. Yes. We’re working on it. Yes. I know.” August stared at the others, and spoke into his smartphone’s headset, “I’m going to have to call you back. Bye. Oh, and say hi to Trina for me.” After tapping the hang-up button with his thumb, August took out his headphones, and placed his smartphone on his desk. As he sat down, he sighed and rubbed his temples with his fingers.

“You wanted to see us, boss?” said Daniel.

“Yes,” said August, “and I’ll explain why once the caffeine kicks in. Christ, the whole situation in Hong Kong is a mess.”

“We know, sir. We’re sorry we failed our mission.”

“Actually, for the most part you didn’t. Honestly, I didn’t expect the mission to go as well as it did. The Architects demanded we move out of Hong Kong, but my business partners refused to.”

“Sir, you’re not considering losing profits just to negotiate with terrorists, are you?” said Megan.

“Well, if I did, less people would be dead,” August said as he got up. “But that’s beside the point. This situation is my mess, and I’ll deal with it. You all just did your jobs, and you did them well. Like I said, mine is to handle the PR.”

“Wait… so, boss, if you’re not here to chastise us, why are we up here?” said Grigori.

“I want to talk to the four of you about keeping an eye on Transcendence’s personnel.”

“What for, sir?” said Megan.

“The reason the public never found out about the Architects’ motives until now was because they blackmailed us. We received an anonymous note from the Architects themselves in broad daylight, right here, in this very building.”

The others exchanged worried glances, and shifted their feet a little.

“My business partners at Providence suggested we keep silent in order to not ‘spook our employees and the general public.’ Whatever the hell that means,” August said as he poured more sugar and cream into his coffee mug.

“Wait, what?” said Daniel.

“You’ve got to be kidding me, Dad!” said Caitlin. “You could’ve prevented this from happening if you told the public!”

“But to some extent, despite that I can’t stand them, they’re right. Not only would it have scared everyone, but it wouldn’t have mattered anyway. Now that the world’s governments are bankrupt, both morally and literally, we’re the ones doing their dirtywork. We’re responsible for protecting the world through our PMCs. If we can’t figure out how to stop them, they can’t either.”

“But if you alerted Hong Kong about the attack---”

“Then they would’ve attacked elsewhere. Like perhaps here.”

Caitlin grimaced and looked away. 

August said, “We’re at war, Cat. Other people may be too afraid to admit it, but you know as well as I do that the Architects are a massive threat to the safety of the world. I’m doing my best to play offense and defense against them all at once in order to take them down.

“Anyway, I want you all to keep an eye out here in the daytime. Look for anything suspicious. Meanwhile, I’ll have some of the other squads make a patrol around the neighborhood.”

“Boss, with all due respect, do you really think they might plan an attack here in the US? After what they did to turn us against China?” Daniel said.

“We’re not going to war with China if I have a say in it. The Architects’ goal is to terrorize people so much that they’ll give into their fears and give them what they want: a world without the technology we’re designing to try and help save it. Because they think they’re the real saviors. They think the world won’t change for the better unless they give it a reason to need to. A world war doesn’t align with that goal. The problem is that their change is regressive, whereas ours is progressive.”

“They’re after us. They want to make us look like the boogeymen. The Architects’ leader is smart, I’ll give him that; he knows that the world is waking up. It’s not about nation versus nation or ideology versus ideology anymore, it’s about people and their collective will to survive, and he wants to make sure no one is safe anymore. The politicians can frame it however it fits their interests, but they’re about as relevant in governing the world compared to corporations like mine as the Royal Family of England is to Parliament.”

“All right, boss,” said Daniel, “we’ll keep an eye out.”

“Good,” said August, and smiled. “You all did good work in Hong Kong.”

“Wait… so, I’m not getting fired?” said Jacqueline.

The others turned toward Jacqueline and raised their eyebrows. August nearly choked on his coffee.

“Why on Earth would I fire you, Jacqueline?” August laughed. “You’re one of my best employees!” He then looked at Daniel and the others, and said to them, “You were too hard on her, weren’t you.”

“Boss, with all due respect, why—” Daniel said before August lifted his hand up to silence him while he downed his coffee.

“I already told you why I sent her into the field. Objectively speaking, Jacqueline’s the best scientist we have, and she’s able to pilot the Ripper prototypes she helped build better than anyone! Without her, a few other key scientists, and everyone investing in the Ripper patent, Transcendence might as well be another startup falling victim to the hyperdepression!”

Daniel sat in disbelief as August said, “I put my trust in Jacqueline, and she did her best to complete the mission. In fact, she performed better than I expected in practically every way.” Turning to Jacqueline, August said, “Jacqueline, you don’t have to worry. I never came close to thinking of firing you. I trusted you with an extremely difficult task, and you did it,” and he continued by saying, “and as for the others, you’ll just have to earn their trust over time.”

The wave of relief that washed over Jacqueline was visible to the others due to her complexion.

“Is she going in the field with us again, sir?” said Daniel.

“I’m going to give her time to recuperate from the last mission. Once I find one appropriate for her to pilot the Ripper on again, yes she will.”

Jacqueline’s wave of relief then visibly went away.

“Anyway, you all just had a hell of a day yesterday. I’ll pay for lunch if you join me for it.”

“Can’t object to that, sir,” said Grigori, and made a sarcastic salute.

“All right, boss… thanks,” said Megan.

“Thanks, Dad,” said Caitlin unenthusiastically.

Daniel and Jacqueline said nothing as they both headed out.

“You’re something else, Jacqueline,” said Daniel as they were going back out toward the elevators.

“Okay,” said Jacqueline with a partial smile as she pulled out her smartphone and headphones from her pocket to listen to some metalcore.

Jacqueline caught up with Caitlin before she headed toward the lounge with the others.

“You all right, Jack?” said Caitlin.

“Yes,” said Jacqueline.

“Good. But are you _really_ all right?”

“Yes. And you know I don’t like it when you call me that,” Jacqueline laughed.

“What’s wrong with it?” said Caitlin, “it’s a fun nickname, and fun tends to occur way too rarely in my poor excuse of a family, so I tend to take what I can get.”

Jacqueline smiled at that.

“Seriously though, are you also good to go with us in the field again? Whenever that is.”

“Good enough.”

“All right, but are you sure? It seemed like a second ago, you were freaking out about it.”

“If August wants me to go into the field again, then I’m sure… Mostly.”

“You really look up to him, don’t you?”

“I do,” said Jacqueline. “He’s nice, like you.”

“Well, as for me,” said Caitlin, “I think he’s nuttier than his coffee, but it seems like I’m the only one of us who thinks that. You going to join us in the lounge?”

“No thanks,” said Jacqueline, “if it’s all right, I need some me time.”

“All right, then, see you at lunch. Jack,” said Caitlin as she got in the first elevator with Daniel and the others.

Jacqueline waved, and got in the other elevator while leaning against the rail and listening to her music.

Later, Jacqueline joined the others at lunch. She picked out a meat lasagna, a salad, a chocolate chip cookie, and got a glass of grape juice in line at the Transcendence Tech cafeteria in between playing the air guitar and the drums with her headphones on.

The lady at the cash register said in her usual nasal drawl, “Well look who’s eating fancy today, eh, rockstar? That’ll be—”

“Don’t worry, Brenda,” said August as he interrupted, “it’s on me.”

Jacqueline continued screaming silently into a pretend microphone before grabbing her lunch tray and following August to their table while ignoring Brenda, who was staring at her in confusion.

As they neared the table, Jacqueline saw Daniel, Megan, Hunter, and Grigori sitting with a gorgeous man with thick blonde hair and blue eyes like hers, only his hair was shorter, neater, and shinier, and his eyes weren’t slightly bloodshot from staring at a screen for days at a time like hers were.

Jacqueline quickly turned off her music and took out her headphones, and sat down at a spot on the end of the table, trying hard not to fumble her food tray.

Daniel muttered, “Just as we were actually starting to talk like adults...”

Megan said, “August, glad you’re here. The others are refusing to act like adults around your business client right now.”

Grigori said, “Sorry boss. It was Daniel who started it.”

August said, “Well then tell them to pull it together. This is one of the heads of state of Sweden. Despite all my prior talk of governments collapsing, Sweden is an exception. They want to invest in our products and services. Now do me a favor and don’t sour our business deal.” Turning to the man, he said, “Forgive them, Emrik. These are a few of my best soldiers working for my private military subsidiary. I’ll have their pay docked for the week if they disrespect you.” The others’ faces went white at this.

“It’s all right. They’ve already introduced themselves. Except for the woman over there who just arrived with you,” said Emrik.

Jacqueline looked up at Emrik, as she was partially distracted picking apart her lasagna’s layers.

“That’s Jacqueline. She’s a Ripper,” said Grigori.

Megan rolled her eyes. 

“A _Ripper_? Please tell me you don’t mean what I think you mean.” Emrik raised his eyebrows at Grigori.

Frowning, Caitlin said, “Her name’s Jacqueline. She’s a scientist here.”

Emrik looked at Jacqueline in confusion. Jacqueline blushed and looked away.

“…um, hello, Jacqueline. My name’s Emrik Winter,” and offered her his hand.

Jacqueline said, “Hi,” and awkwardly shook his hand, then went back to eating.

“Now that’s a proper greeting, Griggs,” said Daniel with a smirk.

“Ignore them,” August sighed. “What Jacqueline lacks in social skills she makes up for in smarts. She’s one of the main scientists responsible for developing the Ripper prototype models.”

Caitlin nodded and smiled at this, then waved at Jacqueline. Jacqueline looked up at Caitlin and waved briefly before eating more of her lasagna.

Emrik said, “she developed… wait—oh, I see, a Ripper!” He laughed.

Jacqueline looked up at Emrik then Grigori, then Emrik, then back down at her plate.

“What is the Ripper patent for exactly?” he asked. “I know your company is at the forefront of the transhumanist movement if that has anything to do with it.”

“It has everything to do with it,” said August. “Jacqueline, could you explain to Emrik what your Ripper patent is for?”

Jacqueline washed down her lasagna with her grape juice. “What it’s for, or what it is?”

“Jacqueline, he means—”

“—what it is.” said Caitlin before Daniel could finish.

Jacqueline gulped before beginning her monologue. “A Ripper is a cybernetic endoskeleton consisting of a set of various advanced mechanical joints, actuators, frames, interfaces, and sensors designed to detect and assess damage as well as obstacles and potential sources in the environment. All of them are made of an alloy more resilient than most materials on Earth—our, um, August’s UltraAlloy patent—with an external layer of artificial human tissue designed to look exactly the way the buyer wants it to look. Beneath the external layer is an additional mesh layer of UltraAlloy armor designed with pockets of nanite clusters that can help repair both the armor and regenerate wounds in its artificial flesh using a process called autopoiesis, or self-regeneration.”

Emrik nodded with wide eyes and blinked a couple times as Jacqueline continued, “Aside from the base endoskeleton’s ability for enhanced movement and combat endurance, it also has several advanced augmentations. One is an array of photoelectric cells used for optical camouflage and generating clothing disguises through 3-Dimensional Analysis imaging used in the cameras built into the Ripper’s eyes. Another is the set of multi-purpose infrared energy and nanite cannons built into the Rippers’ arms and the stigmata on its hands. It has wings that extend out of and fold into its back with rockets built into them, the same rocket models as the ones in its legs and feet, used for temporary flight, enhanced speed, and silent movement. It uses an invisible and quiet but sustainable biofuel to power the jets. Then there is its BISECT, which stands for Binary Intelligence Super-processor and Endoskeleton Control Terminal. It’s the neural computer chip hardwired into the Ripper’s inner endoskeleton components and acts in a way similar to a human’s central and peripheral nervous systems and helps the Ripper interact with its body and the world around it—”

“—right, basically, it’s a Terminator that a human can remote control.” said Daniel.

The others looked at Daniel and Jacqueline out of collective confusion and anger at the former, and sympathy for the latter.

“…actually, it’s not designed to be piloted via external controls,” said Jacqueline. “The end goal is to have”—Jacqueline paused to look at August— “potential buyers upload their consciousnesses to the Rippers’ BISECTs and use them as their new bodies. That’s what makes it a transhuman project; it’s to combine a human with a…”—Jacqueline looked at Daniel, then Grigori— “… a Terminator.”

Grigori, Daniel, and Megan raised their eyebrows and glanced at each other briefly, while Caitlin and August had smug grins on their faces. Emrik kept his attention on Jacqueline.

“The hope is to help people have bodies that can do things normal human bodies can’t for those who are willing to invest their money in it. The resilience of its design gives it a lifespan of at least thirty times as long as the average human’s, and is able to endure amounts of damage that would cripple or kill a normal human without so much as a dent while also having the strength to do similar amounts of damage, lift an amount of weight more than the average car—approximately 4000 pounds—as if it were nothing, as well as travel and accelerate at speeds able to keep up with most cars, all even when climbing and swimming. Of course, our initial hopes are to augment some of Transcendence’s PMC soldiers who are injured in battle with Ripper bodies; they’d be suitable as the initial candidates for surgery.”

“Of course, they have to consent to being augmented as well. It’s as ethical as this process is going to get,” said August. “The public might worry about the implications of replacing their human bodies with mechanical ones, but now, they’ll have a choice to make, and they’d be making one that will help ensure the survival of the human race.”

“That’s incredibly optimistic about what this technology might bring about,” said Emrik. “How do you know people won’t try to exploit the technology?”

“We’re well aware of the potential for others to hack into our Ripper models and control them that way,” said August. “They won’t if we make sure we have the upper hand in cutting-edge augmentation technology and software.

“The cybernetic body of the Ripper is already created. We’re actually a couple weeks away from finishing the project. It’s just a matter of testing the consciousness uploading software, and then the surgery trials can begin. Isn’t that right, Jacqueline?”

“Well… to be honest, it might take more like a month,” Jacqueline said.

“I’ll give you a pay raise if you work nights,” August said.

“It’ll take a couple of weeks,” Jacqueline said and nodded excitedly.

“Thank you, Jacqueline. Meet me in my office at 6 again every day to inform me of your progress.”

“I will, August.”

August smiled, and turned back to Emrik, who made a slight smile also.

“Well, regardless of the ethics, we already have a deal,” said Emrik. “My country’s government and a large portion of its people see the Rippers as an important asset for its survival, and the survival of the world.” Emrik said to August, “On behalf of Sweden, consider me a client,” he said, and shook hands with August.

“Excellent,” he said.

“Will we get to see it in action once it’s done?” he asked.

“Of course. We’re planning to show it off at our annual technology expo at Transcendence’s main headquarters in Geneva,” said August.

“I plan to be there,” he said.

“Good. We’ll aim to exceed expectations.”

As the others were finishing lunch, Jacqueline turned on her headphones to listen to her music again.

Emrik squinted for a moment, then raised one of his eyebrows as he stared at Jacqueline. “Is that Amon Amarth?” he asked.

Jacqueline looked up at him for a couple of seconds, then looked down at her smartphone, and back up at him again.

The others glanced his way. “Amon-a-what?” said Grigori.

Blinking several times, Emrik looked away from Jacqueline for a moment, then looked to the others and said, “Sorry. It’s nothing. I just had a mental lapse for a moment.”

“Right. I imagine you’re exhausted from having to travel here,” said August. “If you want, you can make use of the lounge facilities here before we discuss business some more.”

“Of- of course,” he said, “thank you.”

As the others headed back to work with August, Jacqueline briefly noticed him make another slight smile at her before heading the other way.

Daniel said, “Are you seriously giving Jacqueline a pay raise, boss?”

“Generosity has always been more important to me than profit, Daniel,” said August. “A company’s employees perform much better under an employer who puts their needs before his own, contrary to the lies perpetrated by the older corporations that chose to make the world’s governments broke in the first place through lobbyism. They tore the entire world, its workforce, and their own companies’ reputations apart in the name of profit. As a new generation we have to set a better example in order to prevent the past from repeating itself.”

“If you say so, boss,” said Daniel as he kept walking.

August smiled for a moment, but then his smile disappeared and he turned away.

At 6 PM, Jacqueline headed up to August’s penthouse again. 

As he entered the waiting room, his presence seemed to surprise Ellen. “Jacqueline? Why are you here so late? August is in an important meeting right now.”

“August said he wanted to see me at 6 every day from now on.”

“Um… are you sure?” asked Ellen. “Because I don’t have that scheduled on his calendar, as far as I know…” She typed into her computer a little.

“I’m sure. Can I head in now? I don’t want to be late.”

“Um— r- right. I’ll let you in now. August is meeting with several of his business clients right now. Do your best not to give a bad impression.”

“I’ll try not to.” Jacqueline said, and headed in.

Jacqueline went into August’s office, where she could hear August talking at the conference room in the back with the clients of his.

“…this is a bad idea, Lucas. Are you sure this is worth the risk, worth—”

“Farid is in their hands. If he reveals everything to them, and they choose to go public—”

“You said it yourself, Brand. The world won’t just accept your patent unless we give them a reason to desperately need it.”

“You’re not having second thoughts, are you?”

“No, I’m not. You’re right. We have to adjust our timetables. It’s just that—”

“…what is it?”

“…according to my best scientist, our Ripper model will take at least a couple weeks to get finished, and that’s if she works nights. But what you’re talking about… it would take years. And if there’s so much as a slight screw-up—”

“Well then make _all of them_ work nights. Not to mention your way would take decades.”

“All right, all right,” said August. “Most of them are working tonight, along with the scientist I mentioned. I’ll let them know, along with the rest of the team.”

“Good.”

“August?”

Jacqueline walked into the conference room. His clients were all dressed in black business suits and ties. Jacqueline had never seen any of them before. They all looked up at her with wide eyes, including August. Only his were wider. He appeared freaked out. 

“I didn’t know we were going to have a guest,” said one of them.

“Jacqueline, what are you doing here?” said August.

“You said to meet with you at 6 every day in your office. I assumed you meant starting tonight.” Jacqueline looked around at all the menacing glares at her. “Did… did I make a mistake?”

“Jacqueline, I meant 6 _AM,_ not 6 _PM_! Just like how you saw me this morning!”

“Oh,” Nervous energy shot through Jacqueline’s spine. Embarrassed, Jacqueline turned red. “Oh geez. I’m not supposed to be here. I’m sorry, August. I’ll leave now.”

“Good- Jacqueline,” said August, looking at the others and then at Jacqueline. Jacqueline had never seen August look like that before; he looked like he was afraid of something. “Bye, Jacqueline.”

“Bye, August, I’m heading to my night shift.”

Jacqueline walked out of the conference room, and listened to what they were saying about her as she was walking out of August’s office, as she didn’t want to freak him out any further by making it seem like she was eavesdropping.

“…really, August?”

“I—I didn’t know she was going to come in.”

“We didn’t know ‘she’ was going to come in either. If we knew someone was going to intrude on us up here like this, we would’ve called the meeting off.”

“Listen, I—I know what you all are thinking—”

“And you had better start thinking it too.”

“For Christ’s sake, she’s my lead scientist! I’m sure she doesn’t understand what’s going on.”

“It doesn’t matter, August. You’ve got a whole team of scientists. If your _lead scientist_ is too stupid to understand what’s going on, let alone tell time, then frankly you should consider getting a new one.”

“I won’t!”

“Let it go, August. It’s done. We’ve made our decision. I have a call to make. It’s time you made yours.”

The last thing Jacqueline heard was the man called Lucas type something into his smartphone.

Jacqueline frowned. _Jerks_ , she thought, _I’m not stupid, and I can tell time. Those business clients of August’s are suggesting that he should fire me! August won’t do that to me, I know it! This is all a misunderstanding._ But then Jacqueline thought, _but why did August seem so scared? What was he scared about? And why would they want August to fire me in the first place if they don’t even know who I am? Hell, I don’t even know who_ they _are!_

As Jacqueline headed back into the waiting room, Ellen was on the phone. “All right, August, she’s back.” She hung up and said, “What in the world was that all about? Why’s August so worked up? I could practically smell his sweat through the phone.”

“I have no idea,” Jacqueline sighed. “Have a good night, Ellen.”

“You too, Jacqueline,” she said as she frowned and scratched the back of her head.

That night, back in the laboratories, Jacqueline’s mind was racing as she placed her backpack in her locker. Despite that she was normally better at focusing on her work, she couldn’t get that bizarre encounter with August and his business clients out of her head. What had been going on the whole time?

Regardless, she would give August a reason not to have her fired. She’d get this damned Ripper final prototype finished if it was the last thing she did.

Victoria, Charles, and some of the other scientists who were still left were groaning about having to work nights all of a sudden.

“I can’t believe this,” said Victoria. “I’ve got kids to worry about, and a pay raise won’t solve that. Right now, at least. What’s the big deal about meeting a deadline now anyway?”

“To be honest, I don’t buy August’s ‘generosity over profit’ BS as much as the next person.” said Charles.

“It’s not his fault,” Jacqueline said, “his clients are bothering him about something for some reason.”

Victoria and Charles looked her way, and made it clear again that they hated her guts.

“Jacqueline, it’s his fault _because_ he has clients that are bothering him about something for some reason. By ‘something’ I mean getting his product to them in time for them to make a profit off of it, and by ‘for some reason’, I mean because he’s filthy rich and wants to stay that way. And in order to do that, he has to step on the backs of people who aren’t, including his employees. Kissing his ass doesn’t help anyone but yourself, and probably not even that either.”

“That’s not what I’m talking about!” said Jacqueline. 

“Then what are you talking about?” said Victoria.

Jacqueline exhaled while rubbing her temples, and said, “Never mind.”

“Exactly. Get back to kissing his ass, Jacqueline,” said Charles, “as I have no doubt that’s how you managed to convince him to make you lead scientist in the first place.”

Jacqueline grimaced at Charles, and turned away from him to look at her computer console as she was working on programming the mind-uploading software.

Victoria said to Jacqueline, “So what do you have left to do with that, anyway?”

Jacqueline said, “Mostly just minor calibrations. That and getting the software to upload properly to the Ripper’s BISECT.”

“You’re still working on the mind-uploading software? We’re working on engineering its last two sensory receptors, smell and taste.”

“Wait, but didn’t August say we were supposed to leave those alone for the initial transhuman prototype? That’s going to take up too much time anyway and we’ve got a deadline to meet.”

“August isn’t the scientific team. We’re trying to create an android that a human can upload their mind to that’s so realistic that no one can tell the difference. Including, to some extent, the consciousness occupying the body. Can’t do that without at least five senses.”

“But then wouldn’t we need to construct an artificial respiratory, digestive system, and excretory system? Plus, that would be meaningless; the ability for humans to survive infinitely without food, water, or oxygen intake was emphasized in August’s instructions.”

“Right, but that doesn’t mean they couldn’t theoretically _do_ it. You can’t feel like a human if you don’t eat, drink, breathe, and defecate.”

“But what would be the point in that?” Jacqueline asked.

“That is the point. What’s yours?”

“You’re telling me that there would be a point to all of that if it has nothing to do with survival? At that point they’d just be turned into giant machines there to waste food, water, and oxygen.”

“Well, right now those machines are called humans, Jacqueline,” said Charles. “We’re just making them into transhumans.”

“Besides, Jacqueline,” said Victoria, “it wouldn’t sell. No one wants to be something that doesn’t perform basic human functions that they’ve come to know and enjoy. That’s not what we’re trying to create. That wouldn’t be transhuman, that would be _posthuman._ ”

“It seems like we have different ideas on what we’re trying to create. Shit, you’re right,” said Jacqueline, running her hand through her hair and looking up into the blinding ceiling lights, “this is going to set us back way longer than I expected. August is going to kill me.”

“Yeah, well he’s killing the rest of us already,” said Victoria. “Anyway, Charles’s engineering team is working on the sensory systems. They think that they could integrate them with the existing nanite systems that help block or break up ingested matter and turn it into biofuel.”

“And here I was hoping they could help me figure out how to fix the BISECT-U chair,” Jacqueline said, pointing over to the massive BISECT-U chair, which was shaped more like a surgical operation bed, for obvious reasons.

“I thought it was called a BISECT-P chair. Lord, I hate acronyms.”

“The P in BISECT-P stands for puppeteering. The U in BISECT-U stands for uploading. It’s the chair in which the mind uploading process begins using an advanced surgical system plugged into the chair’s wiring to extract the patient’s consciousness from their brain and convert it from a biological state to neural computer data.”

“So, what needs to be fixed?”

“It has to do with the amount of pain the process will cause to the patient. And it has nothing to do with the amount of anesthetics applied. Just… imagine someone having an out-of-body experience so hellish that the person having it will be traumatized until they die… only they won’t.”

“How do you know that would happen? No one’s had the surgery yet.”

“I don’t, but that’s the worst-case scenario… if they survive the upload process.”

“There’s no data in that, Jacqueline. We’d need someone to try it out first.”

“I’m just thinking hypothetically. No one’s going to want to consent to surgery if they ask how painful it is and we don’t have an answer.”

“True, but there’s… just no way to test that other than to have a willing candidate try it.”

“There has to be a way…” Jacqueline said.

“Well, let me know if you think of one,” said Victoria, “but until then, I’ll be over with the engineering team.”

Jacqueline sighed, and looked at the BISECT-U for a moment.

She was looking at her computer console and examining some data when he heard an explosion toward the lab entrance, and saw some lights flicker.

“Jesus Christ,” Jacqueline said.

“What the hell was that?” yelled Victoria.

“Probably an accident the engineers caused. I’ll check it out.”

She went to the nearby blast door by the decontamination chamber checkpoint lock, and got on the communicator. “What’s going on here?”

She heard gunfire and the screaming of the other scientists, and froze. 

“Please, Jacqueline, let us in! There are men with black masks and commando suits in here! They’re killing everyone!”

Pure terror shot through every vein in her body, making her feel ice cold.

It was the Architects. It had to be.

Jacqueline was in disbelief.

“What’s going on, Jacqueline?” said Victoria.

Jacqueline was at a loss for words. “It’s… it’s the Architects.”

“ _What?_ ”

“Terrorist attack. Fuck…” Jacqueline gulped. “We need to let the others in.”

Hysterically, Victoria screamed, “What—Jacqueline, no! Wait! If we let them in, we’ll die!”

“But if we don’t let them in, _they’ll_ die too!”

The scientists in the room said, “Don’t do it, Jacqueline!”

“Please, Jacqueline! Oh, god, HELP!” screamed Charles on the door’s microphone. He heard several loud bullets over the microphone, followed by Charles crying and wheezing, then what sounded like him choking on his own blood.

“CHARLES!” Jacqueline screamed.

Victoria looked at Jacqueline in disbelief.

“Is this on, scientist?” he heard someone say in Arabic.

“Y- yes, please don’t kill me,” said another programmer, Leonard, on the other line.

“Are your machines in that room?”

He could hear Leonard shaking, crying, and muttering incoherently on the other side of the blast door.

“Jacqueline, get away from the door!” Victoria said.

“My god, are we safe in here?” Camille, a psychologist and medical expert and senior programmer who was a friend of Victoria’s, asked her.

“I think so,” said Aidan, another programmer and cybernetics expert.

“ANSWER ME!” yelled the terrorist.

“Don’t hurt Camille! Wait, please don’t!”

Leonard screamed before Jacqueline heard the terrorist shoot him in the gut.

“Are you willing to cooperate now?”

Leonard just screamed and cried in pain.

He heard swearing in Arabic, then, “forget it,” and another gunshot.

“To all scientists on the other side of this door,” said the terrorist over the microphone in English. “Your fellow scientists are all dead as they refused to cooperate. If you refuse to open this door in 10 seconds, we will begin to blow it off its hinges, and kill everyone on the other side. If you comply… we might let you live.”

Camille, Victoria, and Aidan had grave looks on their faces. The rest of the scientists had already hidden anywhere they could, under tables, in lockers, inside empty Ripper containment pods… anywhere.

“He’s- bluffing… Jacqueline,” said Aidan. “Don’t do it.”

“Fuck, both of you, hide! NOW! Aidan, Camille, Victoria, call 911, August’s PMC, and August himself!” said Jacqueline.

“What about you?” said Victoria.

“Logically speaking, there’s no way out of this. I’m going to try and buy time. Let’s hope he’s bluffing.”

“YOU HAVE 3 SECONDS!”

Jacqueline turned on the microphone as the others ran for their lives, cleared her throat, and shut her eyes for a split second. Her voice shook as she spoke. “This— this is Jacqueline. I’m the lead scientist here.”

The terrorist laughed. “I’ve heard that name.”

“I assume you found that out from one of my friends you just killed.”

The terrorist laughed. “You’re the brave Ripper that fought against us and sacrificed herself in the midst of our attack in Hong Kong that we’ve heard about and feared so much in the past couple days? All I hear is the voice of a coward.

“We’re here for the Ripper I assume you controlled remotely. Give it to us and we’ll let you and the rest of your so-called friends live.”

“Go to hell.”

“Are you willing to risk their lives over your beloved creation, Jacqueline?”

Jacqueline looked around the room at the places where his fellow scientists were hiding.

Then she turned back toward the mic. “You’re bluffing. They’re safer if I don’t let you in.”

“Are you willing to risk their lives on that bet?”

She heard shouting in Arabic and more gunfire in the distance over the microphone. Looking down, a small glimmer of hope appeared in her eyes beneath the raw look of terror.

She tried to stall a little longer. “Wait a second… I recognize you too. You’re Khaled al-Amin himself.”

The terrorist grunted, and spat audibly on the other side of the mic. “So I might be. What does it matter? You are making me impatient, Jacqueline.” The gunfire and shouting was getting louder.

“Are you really risking your life, not to mention your entire cause, just to secure my invention?” Jacqueline laughed in a terrified and pathetic-sounding way. “You’re more of an idiot than I thought. And more importantly, you _are_ afraid of me. That’s why you’re after our invention.”

“I am not afraid of you! And I am not afraid to die for a cause!”

She heard another Architect talking to Khaled in Arabic. The gunfire and shouting practically sounded like it was in the room on the other side of the door by now.

“You’re not the only one here who’s not afraid to die for a cause, Khaled. You said my friends are safer if I don’t let you in here. Given by the sound of gunfire approaching, I suspect that you don’t have long to live, let alone carry out your threats. But what about me, Khaled? What are you going to do to me?”

“You’re about to find out. Jasper! Light the fuse!”

She heard a beeping noise, along with someone burning through the door with a torch.

 _SHIT!_ Jacqueline thought, and ran for her life.

But it was too late.

An enormous explosion sent Jacqueline flying, along with the blast door, which landed a couple feet away from her legs. But the blast had covered Jacqueline in third-degree burns. The thermite charges would’ve caused her to die a very painful death if it weren’t for the thickness of the blast door’s UltraAlloy frame.

Jacqueline tried to get on her feet, only for a German man—probably the one Khaled called Jasper— to shoot her several times in the torso with an Uzi submachine gun. The other terrorists filled the room and started looking for the other scientists.

Jacqueline screamed as the bullets ripped through her body. She had never felt any pain nearly as agonizing as this.

Khaled walked up towards Jacqueline, as she desperately tried to crawl away. Khaled stepped on her right leg, cocked his SPAS-12 shotgun, and fired through all four of Jacqueline’s limbs.

At this point Jacqueline was in too much pain to scream or talk. She could only make a barely human-sounding groan.

The other Architects began pulling her petrified friends out of their hiding spots and executing them.

“You’re pathetic, Jacqueline,” said Khaled, his eyes and voice angry, and full of hatred and contempt. “You call them your friends, Jacqueline, even though they hate you. Maybe you care about them, but to them, you’re a freak, an outsider.” 

Reloading his SPAS-12, cocking it again, and aiming it at Jacqueline’s head, he said, “You could’ve stood up for so much more than just a bunch of cowardly scientists like them. Instead, you’ll die, knowing that you are alone, and that YOU. MEAN. NOTHING!”

Before Khaled could shoot Jacqueline for the final time, assault rifle fire tore through Khaled and Jasper, killing the latter instantly, and heavily wounding the former. Khaled turned around, and fired his SPAS-12 before he stumbled, roared, and while breathing heavily, pulled out a pipe bomb.

“JACQUELINE!” yelled an all-too familiar voice.

And there she saw her best friend that she knew since childhood, struggling and wrestling against Khaled, then slitting his throat with her combat knife.

Jacqueline held up her hand, and groaned in horror as Khaled lit the pipe bomb’s fuse before he died. All within one second, her non-biological sister looked at the pipe bomb, then Jacqueline, then Khaled. Then she grimaced, grabbed Khaled’s pipe bomb as Khaled held onto it with a death grip, then tackled Khaled to the ground and covered both him and the pipe bomb with her body.

Then Jacqueline was blinded as the pipe bomb went off.

Before she blacked out, the blinding light cleared for a brief moment, and she saw Caitlin’s lifeless body hit the ground, and she lay there facing toward her with blood running down her face.

… … … … …

Suddenly Jacqueline felt a sharp pain dig into her chest, and she woke up for a moment.

“It’s Jacqueline! The adrenaline helped; she’s alive, for now! Come on soldier, stay with me! Up you go!” said Daniel, grunting as he hoisted Jacqueline up into his arms.

“Jesus Christ…” said Megan, looking at Jacqueline in horror.

Grigori said with a grave expression on his face, “She looks bad.” Then Grigori turned and stared at Caitlin’s body, swore in Russian, and ran toward her.

Jacqueline groaned again, and tried to look in Caitlin’s direction.

“Megan, check for other survivors,” said Daniel.

“Yes, sir,” she said, and ran into the room.

More PMC soldiers entered the inner laboratory area as well.

“Shit, she’s fading fast. Jacqueline, look at me! Keep your head up, keep your eyes on me,” said Daniel. “We’re gonna get you through this.”

Grigori said, “All clear, Daniel. No more Architect bastards in the building. We found their leader and his number two over there, though. Dead. Caitlin killed ‘em.”

Daniel said, “Shit. Khaled was _here?_ ”

Megan said, “The others are trying to revive some of the others, but… as far as I can tell there are only three survivors.”

A traumatized trio of Camille, Aidan, and Victoria walked out. Victoria was limping, whimpering, shaking, and grasping a bloodstain on her lab coat’s left shoulder.

Jacqueline looked over at her Ripper prototype, and the BISECT-U chair.

She groaned weakly toward Victoria.

Victoria looked his way, and began to cry. “Oh god… Jacqueline’s alive!”

She looked at Victoria, and groaned.

“What?” she said.

She groaned again, and tried her best to point toward the BISECT-U chair with her destroyed arm.

“What are you trying to say?”

“It’s no use, I think her vocal cords are shot,” said Daniel. “She doesn’t have long. Someone needs to get her and the three of you to the company hospital.”

Horrified, Victoria looked at where Jacqueline was pointing. Then she looked back at Jacqueline with a look of astonishment on her face, and said, “She wants her mind uploaded to the Ripper.”

Jacqueline groaned again.

“Sir, wait!” yelled Victoria.

Daniel turned toward Victoria.

“I think Jacqueline wants her mind to be uploaded to the Ripper.”

Megan, Grigori, and Daniel looked at Jacqueline. Jacqueline groaned once more, softer this time, and nodded her head.

“She’s right. I think she’s trying to say she’s okay with undergoing surgery,” said Aidan.

“Nonsense, we need to get her to a hospital.”

“No! She’s not going to survive if you do!” shouted Victoria.

“Are you sure we have another valid option? August said the Ripper models weren’t ready yet!”

“They’re ready enough! Listen to me Jacqueline! Nod yes if you consent to having your mind uploaded to the Ripper!”

Jacqueline nodded her head, and squinted as she began to cough up blood.

“That looks enough like consent to me,” said Grigori.

“Can you really fix her?” said Megan.

“Better. Now get her over to that scary-looking chair labeled BISECT-U over there before she dies!” yelled Victoria.

“All right. Hang in there just a little longer Jacqueline, you’re gonna be all right,” said Daniel as he carried Jacqueline toward the BISECT-U chair.

As she placed Jacqueline in the seat, Victoria said to Aidan and Camille, “Come on, we have to perform augmentation surgery.”

“All right,” said Aidan shakily.

Camille didn’t say anything.

“There’s only three of you, one of you is shell-shocked, and you’re wounded.” said Daniel. “Are you sure you can perform surgery?”

“What choice do we have? Besides, three’s all we need. And I’ve been a surgeon, cybernetics and medical science expert and God knows what else for nearly a decade and a half. I could do this with my eyes closed _as well as_ having a broken leg and a torn shoulder.”

“I’ll believe it when I see it.” said Daniel.

“Just get it done.” said Megan.

Victoria nodded, and they placed Jacqueline’s head inside the BISECT-U helmet while Camille tried her best to clean Jacqueline’s body up, strip her, and keep him alive, then they started the process.

They looked at Jacqueline’s body. Megan said, “She was actually in pretty good shape before those bastards fucked her up like this.”

Grigori said, “She could’ve been a soldier if she wanted to.”

“She is one, and she will be,” said Daniel.

Aidan hooked up the BISECT-U’s helmet to the adjacent computer monitors and looked at it. Typing into his touchboard, Aidan looked at the brain scanning app on one of the monitors. “Okay, I’m booting up the brain scanner.”

“What does that do?” asked Daniel.

“Read her mind. Something based on what they did in earlier, more primitive sleep studies and other medical processes, only we can actually see what she’s thinking as if we’re in a VR simulation inside her head. I’m seeing a representation of her dreams…” said Aidan. “Wait… actually, she’s still somewhat conscious!”

Megan, Daniel, and Grigori’s faces lit up.

“My god… She’s still kicking,” said Megan.

“She’s gonna live.” said Daniel.

“Provided this works,” said Victoria, as she continued plugging in and booting up the BISECT-U helmet while Camille injected Jacqueline with some painkillers, morphine, anesthetics, and healing meds to help her stay alive. Victoria asked Aidan, “What’s she thinking about.”

“Well… aside from her immediate surroundings, she’s fading in and out a little… Her brain’s intact, but she’s heavily traumatized. She’s remembering all the events that just happened over the last few days, mainly the last few hours though. A particular recurring memory is of a soldier dying in front of her. Looks like the soldier sacrificed herself and killed the leader to save her.”

“She’s thinking about Caitlin,” said Grigori.

“Are we ready to begin the mind uploading process, Aidan?” said Victoria.

“She’s stable. I’m ready if you guys are,” said Aidan.

“All right, start it up, Aidan…” said Victoria.

Aidan typed into his touchboard console.

“Oh, fuck…” said Victoria.

“What is it?” said Daniel.

“It’s nothing…” she said, “It’s just… we’ve never tested this on anyone before. Despite that I’m pretty sure the process will be safe physically… There was something Jacqueline mentioned before the attack. About how the feeling of having your consciousness stripped from your physical brain might be… extremely scary, and painful, mentally at least. Like having a very bad waking nightmare. Plus, I don’t know if we have enough anesthetics on hand right now to perform an impromptu surgery. That might make it much worse. Do we, Camille?”

Camille shook her head.

“Shit,” said Victoria, “this is going to hurt her a lot.”

Megan squeezed her hands together tight to keep them from shaking.

“Strap her down as best as you can, Camille!” shouted Victoria.

Camille complied.

“All right, the process is about to begin…” said Aidan.

At first, Jacqueline didn’t make a sound. Then, as they could hear some needles insert themselves into Jacqueline’s skull, she grunted, and began to moan. The mind-uploading process started to progress visually on one of the monitors.

“We’re activating the probes.”

A cold electronic sound began to grow louder, and the BISECT-U helmet lit up and its wires began to glow a bright blue color. The needles began to rotate, going faster and faster until they were drilling into Jacqueline’s brain and extracting her consciousness like an electronic syringe.

“We’re at 1 percent…” said Aidan.

Jacqueline began to moan louder and louder until she was screaming with as much noise as her ruined voice allowed. Megan shut her eyes tight. Grigori held his mouth until he started to puke onto the floor. Camille whimpered and cried as she tried to hold Jacqueline’s body down as she began to shake violently.

“10 percent…” said Aidan.

“Oh god, it’s going to be a long night…” said Grigori.

“I can’t watch!” shouted Megan.

“Come on, Jacqueline, hang in there…” said Daniel.

“20 percent…” said Aidan.

Camille was starting have trouble holding her down, even with the straps attached to her arms, legs, and torso.

“30 percent…” said Aidan.

Victoria said, “Uh-oh… her heart rate is speeding up!”

“40 percent…” said Aidan.

“Camille, did you give her too much stimulants?”

Camille shook her head.

“50 percent…” said Aidan.

“Wait, I gave her an adrenaline shot; if it weren’t for that she’d be dead by now,” said Daniel. “Is that bad?”

“Yeah,” said Victoria, “because if her heart beats much faster, she’ll die pretty soon!”

Jacqueline’s screaming started to grow weaker.

“We’re losing her,” said Victoria.

“No…” said Megan.

“I don’t think she’s going to make it. I’m sorry.” Victoria said to Daniel, Megan, and Grigori.

Daniel looked at Jacqueline with sadness glowing in his eyes, and bowed his head.

“Wait, wait! We’re at 60 percent; maybe I can put her in some sort of medically induced coma! Digitally, I mean.”

“What?” said Victoria.

“It’s just an idea based on some code I added and worked on with Camille’s help at the last minute… and if I’m right, it might save her life.”

Camille looked at Aidan, her eyes lighting up.

“Then do it!” yelled Grigori.

Aidan typed furiously into his touchboard. “70 percent… Come on, come on…!”

Aidan then said, “That’s it.”

Jacqueline’s screaming stopped, and her breathing began to slow along with her heartbeat. 

“Did it work?” said Aidan.

The others looked at Jacqueline’s heartbeat. It had stopped.

“I think she’s dead,” said Victoria.

Camille let go of Jacqueline, and began to cry.

“No, wait! Her physical body is pretty much gone, but I think her brain’s still working!”

Then Jacqueline’s heartbeat monitor began to beep again, albeit very slowly.

“I think that’ll give her enough oxygen to keep her alive for now. 80 percent. It worked! She’s in the world’s first digitally induced coma.”

“90 percent…” said Aidan. “Almost there… 100 percent.”

“That’s good, because her heartbeat just stopped again. Her physical body is as good as dead. She made it just in time,” said Victoria.

Daniel’s face lit up, and Grigori wheezed with laughter. Megan exhaled in relief. 

Daniel looked at Victoria, and asked her, “So where’s Jacqueline now?”

“Once she wakes up,” said Victoria, “she’ll be over there.” She pointed to the Ripper model that they had connected the BISECT-U helmet to with several wires that were over ten feet long.

Daniel, Megan, and Grigori stared at Jacqueline’s new, demigoddess-esque Ripper body.

“That’s her new body. She looks the same as she did in Hong Kong,” said Daniel.

“My god… she’s a Ripper now,” said Megan.

“She’ll be ripping terrorists’ heads off in no time,” said Grigori, smiling.

“Once she’s able to be unplugged, we need to get her and the three of you to an ICU,” said Daniel.

“We’re able to unplug her already,” said Aidan. “Victoria and I’ll do that right now.”

“Good,” said Daniel, smiling slightly. “You did good, Jacqueline,” he said.

And after what felt like years of being trapped in a hellish virtual limbo state, an electronic nightmare inside her BISECT, Jacqueline woke up.


	2. "REBIRTH"

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After Jacqueline's is reborn into her new body as "Jack the Ripper", Jack decides out of grief to avenge Caitlin's death, and undergoes training at August's PMC facility in rural California in order to become an official member of the team.

**MACHINA**

**BOOK 1: TRANSHUMANITY**

**TABLE OF CONTENTS**

ACT 1— “HUMAN”

Chapter 1— “Genesis” … Page 1

Chapter 2— “Rebirth” … Page 39

Chapter 3-- “Transcendence” … Page 70

Chapter 4— “Manufactured” … Page 102

Chapter 5— “Architects” … Page 140

Chapter 6— “Meltdown” … Page 188

**Chapter 2— “Rebirth”**

**Transcendence Technologies HQ, Silicon Valley, California, USA**

Jacqueline’s thoughts were all a blurry mess.

It felt like she had relived these events she kept seeing that had occurred over the course of a few days, for several years. Time seemed to have slowed to a crawl, and every hour hurt. 

She was walking out of August’s office again, listening to his conversation with his mysterious clients.

_“…really, August?”_

_“I—I didn’t know she was going to come in.”_

_“We didn’t know ‘she’ was going to come in either. If we knew someone was going to intrude on us up here like this, we would’ve called the meeting off.”_

_“Listen, I—I know what you all are thinking—”_

_“And you had better start thinking it too.”_

_“For Christ’s sake, she’s my lead scientist! I’m sure she doesn’t understand what’s going on.”_

_“It doesn’t matter, August. You’ve got a whole team of scientists. If your lead scientist is too stupid to understand what’s going on, let alone tell time, then frankly you should consider getting a new one.”_

_“I won’t!”_

_“Let it go, August. It’s done. We’ve made our decision. I have a call to make. It’s time you made yours.”_

An angry terrorist, Khaled, looking down at her, snarling. “You’re pathetic, Jacqueline. You call them your friends, Jacqueline, even though they hate you. Maybe you care about them, but to them, you’re a freak, an outsider.” 

The sound of his SPAS-12 being cocked, its laser sight pointing at her, blinding her, “You were a useful asset to my cause. You could’ve stood up for so much more than just a bunch of cowardly scientists like them. Instead, you’ll die, knowing that you are alone, and that YOU. MEAN. NOTHING!” Then Khaled turned around. Gunfire tore him apart, and her vision turned white.

The more she thought about them, the less they made sense. Then she began to drift into something infinitely scarier…

She remembered falling through the sky in that HALO jump. Then the mission in Hong Kong. Then coming back to Silicon Valley, despite that she had already been there from the start, and getting praised by August despite that she was worried about getting fired. Then her meeting that man, Emrik, in the cafeteria. Then her laboratory, where she was bullied by the other scientists as usual. Then the attack. Then a massive flash led Jacqueline to Caitlin’s bloody face and lifeless eyes staring at her on the floor of her laboratory.

Then she groaned and looked at Caitlin’s lifeless body as she was carried further and further away from it. Then she was put into a chair, and then she felt agonizing pain. Then, then…

… … … … …

**Transcendence Technologies HQ Intensive Care Unit, Silicon Valley, California, USA**

Then she woke up in a blinding white room.

She tried to scream, and she did, but it felt like she wasn’t screaming, let alone using her voice at all. She tried to move, but her body was strapped to an UltraAlloy bed by its cuffs. She wanted to gasp for air, but couldn’t since she no longer needed to.

“Emrik… Caitlin…” she muttered deliriously as the nurses in the ICU tried to calm her down despite being terrified by the volume of her scream.

“It’s okay, Jacqueline, try to relax,” said one of them.

“Caitlin! Where’s Caitlin?” Jacqueline cried, and struggled against her bonds, trying to break free.

The nurses trembled around her.

Jacqueline tried to calm herself down now. “I’m sorry,” she said.

“It’s all right,” another one of them said. “You’re alive. Your friends said they managed to upload your mind to your… Ripper prototype before it died along with your body.”

“My friends?” said Jacqueline.

“The CEO is here too. He wants to see you… um, once you’re dressed, that is.”

“What?” Jacqueline looked down at her body on the UltraAlloy hospital bed.

 _This isn’t happening…_ Jacqueline thought as she shoved her head back against the bed, only for the resulting thud to cause no feeling at all. _What have I done to myself?_

Snapping out of this surreal trance momentarily, she realized she was a nude 6-foot-tall android designed to look like a human woman beyond the peak of human physicality in a room full of nurses and doctors, some of them male, staring at her.

If her face had feeling to it, she could physically tell if it had turned red from embarrassment. But she knew she was a Ripper now, and that it was impossible.

She asked, “Can I have a hospital gown?”

“Sure—right,” said one of the nurses, “we’ll go get one that’s your size.”

Jacqueline looked away for a moment, and was starting to drift into her memories again, only to find that they were almost as vivid as her dreams while she was asleep. They were happening simultaneously while she was still consciously aware of her real surroundings and received sensory input of both. They weren’t just dreams or memories; they were recordings of them, stored as data. That was how the Ripper’s BISECT worked.

Despite that she tried to remember what had happened before she was put under, the horrible nightmares she had kept her from doing so—she had to put them in a dormant part of her memory storage to keep her human consciousness from going mad.

But she remembered Caitlin, her best friend, and Emrik, that man she barely knew at all; they were the two constants in her memories.

The nurse arrived with her hospital gown. Jacqueline asked them, “Can I put it on myself.”

“We’re worried you’re not stable enough to be… let out of your restraints yet.”

“I’m fine,” Jacqueline lied, but noticed the doctors and nurses trembling still.

Jacqueline sighed, and thought, _this is really weird._

“I’m not going to kill you,” Jacqueline said. “Please just dress me before my friends get here.”

“They’re… they’re outside.” said one of them as she unlocked her restraints.

Jacqueline got up from her hospital bed. Before putting on her gown, she looked at herself in a nearby mirror.

 _Jesus Christ,_ she thought, _I am a Ripper._

As Jacqueline was putting on her gown, she felt the male doctors and nurses eyeing her. Despite being embarrassed by her nudity, she somehow felt that the embarrassment didn’t come from typical human sexual sensations. Was it just a mere social construct that was making her feel this way?

Then it hit Jacqueline: she technically was neither male nor female now despite appearing female. She no longer felt like a sexual being.

Jacqueline looked down, and avoided eye contact with the nurses as she walked outside and saw Grigori, Daniel, Megan, August, Victoria, Aidan, and Camille waiting for her… but Caitlin and Emrik were nowhere to be seen. They looked like they had hardly changed at all, aside from a few new scars here and there.

August said, “Are you all right, Jacqueline?”

“I’m not sure,” Jacqueline said. “My biological body is gone, isn’t it.”

August nodded. “You were in a coma for three days.”

“It felt like three years. Actually, I’m not sure how long it felt like.”

“Was that what it was supposed to be like?” asked Megan.

“Perhaps,” said Jacqueline. “I’ve heard theories of how dream time for humans moves at a different speed than that of the real world. But these were so vivid that I was experiencing the dream as if it was happening in real time. It was also as if multiple timelines were overlapping at once.”

“You mean like… dreams within dreams?” she said.

“That’s one analogy for it. Another way to put it would be dreams colliding with other dreams, like jumping from one to another in an instant without much of a comprehensible… or comfortable… transition.”

“Somebody must’ve watched _Inception._ ” said Grigori. The others eyed him, including Jacqueline.

“Inception?” Jacqueline asked. “What does that have to do with anything?”

“You watch too many fucking movies, Griggs,” said Daniel.

Grigori made a slight smirk at this, and reached for his pack of cigaweeds.

“As far as we can tell from the outside, your surgery was a success,” said Victoria. “It was extremely dangerous, but it was a stroke of luck mixed with collective mad genius. We might need to run some scans on your BISECT, though.”

“Maybe you should stay away from what’s inside her head for a while,” said Daniel. “She’s probably traumatized.”

“Is she, though?” asked Grigori.

Jacqueline nodded. “I’ve felt different from other people for my whole life. But I’ve never felt this different before.”

“We don’t have a choice,” said Aidan, “it’s best we see what’s going on inside Jacqueline’s head right now. Not just analysis for the sake of R&D, but her mental state as well.”

August said, “Your lab is still a mess.”

Victoria said, “It’s all right. We managed to export some of the BISECT monitoring software from the labs to our company laptops via the cloud. We’ll monitor Jacqueline’s BISECT here in the ICU.”

Daniel said, “I don’t know if that’s a good idea—”

“It’s all right, Daniel,” Jacqueline said.

“If you say so, Jacqueline.”

Jacqueline lay in her UltraAlloy bed, cuffed back to it again at her request in case something painful entered her head again. The male doctors—and a couple female ones—staring at Jacqueline again and no longer trembling, were whispering to each other and smiling coyly.

“Stop staring at the female Ripper, Neanderthal,” Megan said to Grigori.

“Okay! It sounded more awkward the way you said it.” Grigori replied.

“This is like nothing I’ve ever seen,” said Victoria. “Aidan, Camille, come see this.”

“Coming,” said Aidan. Camille followed him over to the BISECT monitor.

“She seems to have a near-total recall of what happened the three nights ago…” Victoria said. “There are parts of the time she was in a coma that are recollections of the day before she was killed, but there are large gaps in the timeline… the memories are distorted. We can’t get a feed on anything there; it’s like both white noise and blinding white at the same time, coupled with some data that’s hard to make out.”

“Can you tell what kind of data it is?” asked Aidan.

“Nothing we installed. It must’ve been coming from her mind itself.”

“I don’t necessarily believe in any religion or spirituality, but… it felt like an out of body experience,” said Jacqueline.

The others turned toward her.

“But it was a scary one,” Jacqueline said, “like I was in hell… It didn’t make any sense. I can’t explain any of it.”

The others looked at Jacqueline with worried appearances on their faces. “There are so many pieces of the memories I don’t understand either. Save for August and Caitlin, it seemed like you all either hated me or hardly knew me until I was dying.”

The others scratched their heads. “We just… didn’t understand you before. We still don’t. But you saved our lives,” said Victoria.

“Sometimes you get to know someone better than their closest friends when you fight alongside them,” said Daniel.

“Or when they’re close to dying,” said Grigori, looking away for a moment.

“Come to think of it… Khaled and Jasper… they were there. They acted like they knew me well, too.”

Daniel, Megan, Grigori, and August exchanged glances. “That can’t be right,” said Megan.

“Looks right according to her memories,” said Victoria.

“And ours.” said Aidan.

“Well they were doubles. They were trying to send a message by having us think they were here. The real terrorists are in hiding now. You think they could’ve had inside knowledge of some kind, boss?” said Daniel.

August said, “I’ve been having my men look into it. They did manage to breach the labs pretty easily, and timed their attack well. They also killed the techie in charge of our security systems and deleted a ton of recorded feed archives; years worth of them, in fact. We also found a lot of child pornography on his PC.”

“Gross!” said Megan.

“What a wanker,” said Daniel. 

“I doubt many of us will miss him,” said Grigori.

“I’m going to have his history looked into as well. I swear to god, if he so much as touched Caitlin before this…”

“Did he ever bother you at all, Jacqueline?” asked Daniel.

“Jesus, no!” said Jacqueline. “Thank god he never did. He always seemed like he was being friendly to me, overly so, now that I think of it! Now I know why.”

“That’s a relief,” said August. “I guess there’s nothing we can do to ask Caitlin…”

Looking at August, Jacqueline asked, “Where is she?”

August appeared sad, along with the others.

“She’s gone,” said Grigori.

“She died trying to save your life,” said Daniel.

With wide eyes, Jacqueline looked away, and said, “I want to cry.”

“Go ahead and cry, mate,” said Daniel.

“She can’t, though.” said Aidan. “It’s not how her body’s built.”

Jacqueline looked at August and said, “I’m so sorry, August. It should’ve been me.”

August nodded and said, “I’m glad I didn’t lose you, too,” then looked away.

**Camp Summer Cemetery, California, USA**

Caitlin’s funeral was held at the cemetery next to the Transcendence PMC training facility, where other PMC mercenaries who were killed in action were buried as well.

As several PMC members fired bolt-action rifles into the air as part of the ceremony and saluted, Caitlin and August’s relatives, then her friends and fellow squadmates came to put their hand on her coffin and say goodbye before it was lowered into the earth. August was the first to say goodbye. Jacqueline was the last.

At the reception at a country club a couple dozen miles away, everyone ate cake and treats, talked, and drank a lot.

The sight of it made Jacqueline sick. She’d never get to eat or drink anything ever again and be able to taste it. It wasn’t that she felt hungry, as she no longer could; it was that she _wanted_ to be. Not to mention that it wasn’t like this was time to celebrate anything, despite that she knew everyone was just trying to get over their grief in any way possible. What better way to do that than alcohol? But Jacqueline didn’t want to forget.

Jacqueline saw a picture of Caitlin next to the cake. 

A flash of Caitlin’s bleeding face lying on the floor of the lab next to Jacqueline on that night came into her mind again.

Jacqueline covered her face with her hands to block out the light. She was about to tear parts of her skin off of it.

Then she saw a flash Khaled staring at her and pointing his shotgun at her. “ _…Instead, you’ll die, knowing that you are alone, and that YOU. MEAN. NOTHING!”_

A hail of bullets. A fistfight between Caitlin and Khaled. A knife to Khaled’s throat. A lit pipe bomb. Caitlin tackling Khaled to the floor. Then an explosion, and the light became unbearable before it faded.

Then Jacqueline stopped, and calmed herself down, and grimaced. 

She may never cry again, but she’d get to scream. Just not here. Not yet.

Jacqueline went up to August, who was talking and drinking heavily with some of his business associates who came to the reception, some of whom were the people she saw in August’s penthouse the night before.

She said to August, “I want to get justice for Caitlin’s death.”

The business associates and August turned to look in Jacqueline’s direction. “What do you mean?” said August.

“Daniel said that the terrorists Caitlin died trying to save me from were doubles. I want to find the real Khaled and kill him.”

August said to Jacqueline, “I’d like that as much as everyone else here, Jacqueline, but you’re not a soldier, you’re a scientist, and all of the other scientists are either dead, wounded, or traumatized. We need you here, not on the front lines.”

“I’m a software engineer for the most part. Now I don’t need to type commands into a computer to help program inventions. I am the software, the computer, and the invention. I can help the other scientists remotely.”

“You don’t understand, Jacqueline, being a soldier on the field is different than piloting a robot. Now you _are_ the robot, and if you get destroyed, you won’t just get to shrug it off and go back to work.”

“I do understand, and I’m willing to risk the consequences.”

“ _But I don’t want you to die too!_ ” August shouted.

Silence filled the room as the people in it stared at Jacqueline and August.

“I already did, August,” said Jacqueline. “My real body’s gone, and a part of my mind—my soul—died with Caitlin as well. I’m not Jacqueline Newman anymore, I’m a Ripper with Jacqueline Newman’s consciousness uploaded to it. Now let me rip Khaled and the Architects into pieces.”

August said, “There’s no stopping you from doing this, is there?”

Jacqueline shook her head.

“All right, Jacqueline,” he said. “It won’t be easy, though. You’ll need to go through training here at Camp Summer.”

Jacqueline nodded, and said, “I’ll do whatever it takes to prepare. And August?”

“Yes?”

“Call me Jack from now on.”

August nodded, and as Jacqueline left, he looked at his business associates, frowned at them, and downed his drink.

**Transcendence PMC Training Facility, Camp Summer, California, USA**

Jacqueline was practicing at a training course involving several drones, some of which were enemy soldiers, and some of which were supposed to be “civilians”.

She was blasting them with her arm cannons while dodging or taking cover from their fire and avoiding hitting any civilians. Her transhuman strength allowed her to even take on some of the larger drones such as tanks and aerial drones. She also practiced using her leg and wing jets on a massive obstacle course.

Grigori, Megan, and Daniel were watching her from the observation deck, looking at her via the various cameras placed around the obstacle course. At least the ones that she didn’t hack into or destroy.

“Well, Jack the Ripper officially just beat Daniel’s high score,” joked Grigori.

“Please don’t start calling her that,” said Daniel.

“Too late, it’s gonna be a thing now,” Grigori said.

“Wow. I don’t think anyone’s going to beat her score now,” said Megan.

“At least until someone else becomes a Ripper,” said Daniel.

“You’re not convinced?” said Megan.

“Or are you just jealous?” Grigori said with a smirk.

Ignoring Grigori, Daniel said, “Like I said in Hong Kong, she’s got the body and the intelligence of a supersoldier, but not the mindset. It’s going to take more time than a few months to train her.”

“Give her a couple more weeks,” said Victoria, “then we’ll really put her new abilities to the test.”

Daniel looked at Victoria, Aidan, and Camille. “I thought you three were back in Silicon Valley.”

“We had our lab moved here temporarily,” said Aidan. “We’ve been working on completing the process of building a new device we had been working on prior called the BISECT-R. R standing for reality. It’s a magnetic levitation device built into a room that connects wirelessly to Jacqueline’s BISECT; it allows her to move around and use her abilities, exerting herself without putting herself in any real danger.”

Victoria said, “Meanwhile, the BISECT-R allows us to upload combat training simulations into her BISECT that work like virtual reality—again, hence the R. The only problem was that since we’re scientists and not soldiers, we had trouble creating adequate simulations to test Jacqueline with.

“That is, until we managed to scan the memories of other Transcendence mercs with additional BISECT tech and turn them into partially completed simulations,” said Aidan. “That’s why we need your expertise to help us craft the simulations so they’ll be realistic and challenging enough to use on Jacqueline.”

“Are you sure that’d be a good way to train her?” said Daniel.

“Better than what she’s doing right now,” said Aidan. “It’ll be like she’s actually on missions, only she won’t be.”

“All right, you’ve got my interest,” said Daniel.

“What help do you need from us?” said Megan.

“Like we said,” said Victoria, “we need your help crafting the simulations.”

“And to think I was certain I only liked to _play_ video games,” said Grigori. “It’s time to make some.”

Jacqueline was in the CQC practice ring, practicing fighting multiple other mercs at once without maiming or killing them with her inhuman strength in order to practice non-lethal combat. Her current record was twenty-one mercs at once.

Two of the mercs named Chris and Terrence got up. Chris said, “All right, I think we’ve had enough of a beating for the day, soldier. You’re starting to make us look bad.”

“I didn’t hurt your men too much, did I?”

Chris and Terrence looked at each other. Terrence said, “We mean you’re embarrassing us. We’re supposed to be the best PMC on Earth and you’re taking us down like we’re android fodder.”

“It’s called a Ripper,” said Jacqueline, “and I’m sorry. I’m just trying to practice.”

“Don’t worry about it,” said Chris. “I can’t believe Daniel doesn’t see how much potential you have for field work yet.”

“You know him?”

“Yeah, we’re pals. We fought together in Afghanistan; we were responsible for saving their president in the middle of the proxy war there during the second cold war.”

“The two of you were there? On the Suicide Strip?”

“Yup, as was Terrence here,” said Chris. “We managed to escort his convoy through a minefield in the desert, with snipers, drones, and several aerial vehicles surrounding us, as well as hundreds of suicide bombers on horseback.”

“Holy shit,” said Jacqueline, “I had no idea. You guys have way more experience than I do.”

“Well, Chris and I heard you managed to stop the terrorists and save the majority of the hostages back in that attack in Hong Kong,” said Terrence. “Not to mention you went in by yourself.”

“Daniel didn’t seem as impressed by that,” said Jacqueline, “plus he was right to complain since I wasn’t actually there.”

“Yeah, well he can be a pretty stuck-up bastard sometimes, but he’s not that bad once you get to know him,” said Chris.

“Plus, we’re starting to learn more about this Ripper technology from some of your scientist pals,” said Terrence. “Can’t believe you barely made it out of that lab alive.”

“I’d rather you not remind me.”

“Noted.”

Daniel, Megan, Grigori, Victoria, Aidan, and Camille approached them.

“What the hell happened to everyone?” said Megan, looking at all the other PMC soldiers groaning on the floor.

“Looks like they got their asses ripped off and handed to them,” said Grigori.

“Jack, it looks like you’re ready for the next phase of your training,” said Daniel.

“What’s the next phase?”

Grigori grinned, and said, “You’re about to win the second cold war for us.”

“I thought it already ended,” said Jacqueline.

“It did,” said Daniel.

**Commercial Airplane, Near the US East Coast, Above the Atlantic Ocean**

Jacqueline was flying above the Atlantic Ocean with her jets, and managed to catch up to the airplane. After attaching to the side of the plane with her adhesive grip with the wind pounding against her, she then managed to hack open one of the doors, and quickly pull herself through before the cabin depressurized.

“What the hell—who are you—” said one of the _Alqua_ terrorists guarding the pilot’s cabin before Jacqueline hit him in the face, knocking him into the door of the lavatory. She then broke his neck before he could pull out his knife and stab her.

The other terrorists immediately noticed her, and pulled out their knives, but they were no match for Jacqueline as she managed to beat them all to death without harming any of the terrified civilian passengers.

However, as she entered the pilot cabin, the terrorists piloting the plane started to smash and break the plane’s controls with their knives, and the resulting electricity that emitted from the controls fried them. Jacqueline desperately tried to repair the controls, but it was too late. The cabin was depressurizing; she had lost control of the plane.

Heading to the civilians, she yelled desperately, “Everyone, it’s time to get off the plane! Follow the emergency procedures now!”

One of the passengers said, “Who the hell is flying the plane?”

Another said, “What the—is that New York City?”

_Oh shit…_ thought Jacqueline.

Looking out the cabin window, she could see the plane rapidly descending toward New York.

She decided to bail, opened an emergency exit door, and jumped out of the plane before it crashed into the base of one of the President’s private towers, the explosion devastating as the building crumbled to the ground.

The resulting fire from the plane’s wreckage blinded her and she barely managed to make the landing safely, only to find she was surrounded by flames and blinding smoke. But when the smoke and fire around her cleared, she looked at all the corpses of the people she didn’t save and grasped her head with her hands.

“That’s enough, Jacqueline,” said Daniel over her BISECT’s comms, and the world of the simulation dissolved around her until she was back in the BISECT-R room.

**Experimental BISECT-R Room, Transcendence PMC Training Facility, Camp Summer, California, USA**

“You were having a flashback again, weren’t you?” said Daniel.

Jacqueline said, “I keep remembering that night when Caitlin died.”

Daniel said, “Try your best to push through your trauma. I know it’s not easy; it isn’t for any of us. But overcoming your fears and your grief is key to becoming a soldier.”

“All right,” Jacqueline said.

Daniel explained, “What you did in that sim was a possible deviation in events that would cause an alternate reality that could’ve potentially made things much worse. The Rule of Nines terrorist attack, perpetrated by the terrorist organization _Alqua_ —or ‘the Force’ in English—happened on September 9, 2039, and resulted in thousands of deaths, and then gave the then corrupt US President a good reason to expand his growing fascist authoritarian regime, having been in office for over two terms by then despite the constitution prohibiting it. Before then, _Alqua_ was already feared by many and liked by few. 

“In reality, though, the organization was what’s known as a false flag terrorist organization—run by the President and based in Saudi Arabia near one of his own business’s locations and covered up by the Saudi Arabian government and his Russian puppeteers. He needed a reason for the US people to rally behind him, so he not only had them launch a terrorist attack on his own soil, but also had the terrorists hijack a commercial airliner and run it into the building owned by one of his prominent business rivals in Manhattan. That alone would’ve made things better if the attack happened as it did. 

“However, you caused the plane to crash into _his own hotel building_ , which would’ve furthered his ego and caused the American people to rally behind him even more than they actually did,” said Daniel, “thus making the war in the Middle East last potentially several years longer, destabilizing the region even worse, taking more lives, and making geopolitics even more volatile.”

“Right,” said Jacqueline, “I’m sorry. I have to do better this time.”

“To be fair, this was a tough simulation,” said Daniel, “and it was just that—a simulation—so there’s not much to worry about. Do you remember what happened next?”

“Yeah,” said Jacqueline. “The attack gave him an excuse to start a war in Syria, Israel, and Palestine.”

“Exactly,” said Daniel, “but that’s not where the next simulation is taking place. You’re going to a village in Ukraine, where our good friend Grigori was originally an SVR defector, and managed to reveal the location of several safehouses to us. That’s where the true leader of _Alqua_ was holed up in; the Russian annexed state granted him asylum there. Eventually with his help, we helped bring him into the light for the world to see and get the President indicted and locked up. It was a shame that he was too old to live much longer by the time he was in prison; practically the whole world wanted to see him suffer for longer as he rightly deserved.

“All right,” said Jacqueline, “time to hunt the terrorist leader.”

“These are Grigori’s memories by the way,” said Daniel, “so don’t be surprised if you smell like smoke.”

“I can’t smell anymore,” Jacqueline said.

“Ah, right. I keep forgetting. Thank god not; don’t tell him I said this, but Grigori reeks. Anyway, prepare yourself. Victoria, run it.”

Victoria nodded, and Jacqueline felt the room dissolve again as she was immersed in the next BISECT simulation.

**Rural Village Near Kiev, Ukraine**

Jacqueline found herself hiding in some bushes on the outskirts of a village on a hill near a lake.

She saw a flashlight making a signal across the gravel road.

It was Daniel, and several other of his squadmates, including Chris and Terrence.

Jacqueline shined a bright visible light back at Daniel with her arm cannon stigmata.

As Daniel and his squad moved up in her direction after checking the streets for activity, she moved out of the bushes, and said, “Daniel!”

“How do you know my name?” said Daniel.

“It’s me- Jack—” then Jacqueline remembered that she was in a memory where Daniel hadn’t met her yet, and she was still a kid. He probably hadn’t met Grigori yet either. “…I mean, Grigori.”

“Well, someone’s bloody overexcited to defect,” said Daniel. “You’re acting suspicious. Dagger, anvil.”

Jacqueline said, “What?”

Chris, Terrence, and Daniel frowned at her. 

Jacqueline tried her best to think on her feet. What were they trying to do?

She couldn’t help but remember the time when those CIA agents--- Tom and Marcus—said something confusing to her that ended up being the passphrase that…

_…of course!_ She thought, and suddenly realized the passphrase was in the files in her BISECT; she managed to skim them before they could react to her temporary silence. The speed at which she could process data in her BISECT in comparison to real time was unbelievable!

“Cloak, incus.”

“That checks out,” said Terrence.

“You sure you’re Grigori?” said Chris.

Pretending to be Grigori, she picked up a cigaweed from the pack in Grigori’s Spetsnaz uniform she was wearing, and said, “That’s me. Anyone got a lighter?”

“That depends. You got another one of those?” said Terrence.

“Sure, just don’t take all of them,” Jacqueline said.

Daniel lit her cigaweed. She blew the smoke out.

Terrence choked and coughed out smoke. “Christ, I feel like I just licked an entire barbecue grill.”

“Weird. I can hardly taste these ones at all.”

“That can’t be good for you, mate,” said Daniel. “All right, you’ve proven yourself well enough for now, Grigori. What intel you got for us?”

Jacqueline knew in seconds. “Al-Shaheed’s safehouse is somewhere in the middle of the village. His _Alqua_ thugs are waging genocide across the valley.”

“How do we know which house he’s in?”

“Follow the screaming.”

As they entered the village and stealthily entered and cleared out the buildings one by one, Daniel said, “I don’t understand. Why do you need to be deep cover for the SVR in an _Alqua_ sleeper cell so close to Kiev? Didn’t Russia annex Ukraine recently?”

“What do you mean?” Jacqueline asked.

“Couldn’t Russia just have you wipe out the cell from the outside?”

“I’m one of several middlemen between _Alqua_ and the SVR,” said Jacqueline, “and you’re not going to like this next part. Russia and your current President created _Alqua_ as a means to scare the public into using them for protection so they can further assert their dominance.”

“Shit,” said Chris.

“Just when I thought that prick in office couldn’t go any lower,” said Terrence.

“And you Americans will keep thinking that unless you do something about it or until it’s too late. Fortunately, Al-Shaheed and the file on his computer is exactly what we need to expose your Manchurian candidate of a president. I tried to gain access remotely but got shut out by a proxy.”

“Didn’t know you were a hacker.”

“I’m not one,” lied Jacqueline, sticking to her cover. She knew that in the real events of the simulation, Grigori had uploaded a backdoor program provided by his SVR handler.

They were about to approach the next set of houses when they were detected by several guard dogs that started to bark. Jacqueline blasted them with her arm cannons before they could pounce on Chris, Terrence, or Daniel.

“What the hell?” said Daniel.

“How did those dogs just die?” said Chris.

“And why did you just put your hand up toward them?” said Terrence.

“No reason,” said Jacqueline. “Those mutts likely alerted the remainder of the _Alqua_ troops. We need to find al-Shaheed and take him alive before he leaves.”

They fought against the _Alqua_ troops in the village; Terrence climbed the church tower to snipe them while Daniel inched his way forward through the battlefield from building to building, cover to cover and Chris provided support with his M4A1’s underbarrel grenade launcher.

But Jacqueline was beginning to realize that they were outnumbered, and al-Shaheed was getting away.

So, blowing her cover, she began blasting the _Alqua_ troops with rapid laser fire, occasionally widening the blast radius for a shotgun-like barrage of fire, shooting in multiple directions at once with the same arm using the several different holes in her stigmata, and occasionally blasting them with a massive explosive blast of laser fire that leveled several houses full of now-dead _Alqua_ soldiers.

Jacqueline stood in front of a field of burning grass.

“Holy shit…” said Chris.

“You- you ain’t human,” said Daniel, pointing his finger at Jacqueline, whose face and uniform was torn up by gunfire and was missing some skin, revealing her steel UltraAlloy endoskeleton underneath.

“They’re all dead. Come on, al-Shaheed is going to wipe his hard drives before we get to him!” Jacqueline said, and used her jets to sprint at an accelerated speed through the grass.

“Whoa… hey, wait up!” said Daniel.

Jacqueline entered the last remaining house, where she could identify Omar al-Shaheed’s heat-signature through its walls, and bashed the door open. She quickly blasted holes in the torsos of his bodyguards, and grabbed him by the neck, ripping his Desert Eagle out of his arm before he could react to her. To her luck, a few of his computers were still intact.

She punched Omar hard in the gut, then threw him to the ground, where he reached for his Desert Eagle. She then kicked him hard in the face, knocking him out cold, and slid his gun away from his hand with her foot. 

As Daniel, Chris, and Terrence showed up, she said to them, “Restrain him,” as she went over to the computers and downloaded their data by hacking them with the glowing blue veins in her arms.

“These guards’ wounds look like lasers blasted through them. Was that you?” said Terrence.

“Yes.”

“Do you have fucking rockets in your legs or something?” said Chris, panting.

“Yes.”

“And how are you using the Force’s---”

“I’m not using ‘the force’ to hack these computers, I’ve got wires built into my hands near where the stigmata are that act as the barrels for my arms’ built-in laser cannons; they’re connected to my—” Jacqueline looked at Daniel, and said, “Oh. I thought you were making a Star Wars reference.” Jacqueline made note of the fact that the real Grigori might give her props for at least knowing that movie series, despite that it was well-known enough to likely seem pathetic to a film maven like him.

“You’re—you’re an android,” said the alternate past version of Daniel.

“Looks more to me like she’s a Ripper,” said the Daniel of the actual present as he appeared via hologram. “I have to admit that was weird watching you pretend to be Grigori. I think he’s going to have some bad trips after what he just saw.” Daniel snickered for a minute. “But you did much better this time. I assume you understand the technology that went into the sim better than I do?”

“Now that it’s over, yes,” said Jacqueline. “I assume Victoria, Aidan, and Camille scanned everyone’s memories here with an external BISECT and used our collective experiences to create a version of Grigori’s memory for me. We use our subconscious to reshape the memory to help make sense of it. There are restrictions of course, as enemies whose memories we don’t have access to don’t get their own input into the shared memory. This works out in your favor in that it allows you to shape the adversity to train me as you see fit.”

“You just made it sound even freakier,” Grigori groaned as his hologram appeared briefly before dissolving.

“Back in the real memory, due to our lack of Ripper technology, Al-Shaheed got away and smuggled the data we were after with him. It took several years longer to bring down al-Shaheed and the corrupt then-President after that due to lack of proper evidence. But by deviating from the course of the original memory’s events, and choosing to reveal your true self—your Ripper self—you cut down the years’ worth of time to bring down the conspiracy. Put simply, if this was what actually happened back then, the world would be much different, and probably a lot better than it currently is today.”

“Do you think August will want me to reveal that I’m a Ripper to the public?” Jacqueline asked.

“Not when you’re on a mission. It’s better that you be stealthy if possible, and conceal your hidden cybernetic abilities. After all, the reason you designed the Ripper to have artificial human tissue on the outside of its endoskeleton wasn’t for the sake of its inhabitant to feel human. It’s merely another toolset; a means of blending in among other humans.”

“I know,” said Jacqueline, looking at her reflection in one of the safe house’s windows for a moment before snapping out of her trance. “What I meant was do you think he’s going to use me as a way to showcase his patent.”

“Well, you are the prototype to be fair,” said Daniel. “I wouldn’t rule it out.”

“I see.”

“Your fellow scientists are about to prep the next sim,” said Daniel. “This time you’re going to Geneva to stop another _Alqua_ terrorist attack, as Megan this time.”

“Okay then.”

Suddenly this simulation dissolved, and the weird pixelated patterns it left floating around her reversed as another simulation coalesced around her.

**Abandoned Biotech Factory, Geneva, Switzerland**

Jacqueline found herself in Megan’s body in a dimly lit room; she was wearing sleepwear and tied to a chair surrounded by _Alqua_ thugs.

“Candide. I know what you did, you fucking bitch!” said one of the _Alqua_ thugs in French as they covered Jacqueline’s face with a cloth, pulled her chair back, and blasted her with freezing water from a hose.

Then the simulation was paused and the water being sprayed at her froze in position in front of her. Daniel’s hologram entered Jacqueline’s vision once more, he stood behind and to the right of the thug who sprayed her with water. 

“Damn, talk about a nasty opening. You’re not the only one who went through something seriously traumatic,” Daniel said. “Out of the three of us, Megan had an especially rough time taking on _Alqua._ Being a highly decorated Swiss intelligence officer, Megan became a mole working within _Alqua._ Since she was already skilled at recruiting potential agents to carry out missions, she helped supply mercenaries to fight for the _Alqua_ cause. 

“The problem was the same as it is with most mercenaries: unlike us, they don’t have loyalty to anyone or anything but their wallets. Once _Alqua_ grew to be a big enough threat to the world for world leaders to finally do something about them, they were already profiting enough off of the misery they caused to bribe some of Meg’s own mercenaries into snitching on her. Eventually her cover was blown, and then she was captured and interrogated right before the massive terrorist attack known as the MROVID-43 attack.”

“They’re talking to me in French. Was Megan’s cover identity that of a French woman?”

“Technically I was Swiss in terms of nationality, but French was my main language,” said Megan, whose hologram was standing in the corner of the room and avoiding looking at Jacqueline. “But ‘Candide’ wasn’t a cover identity. That used to be my real name,” she said.

“Wait, you used to be _Swiss?_ ”

“Yeah,” said Megan. “You didn’t know?”

“I had no idea, you seemed indistinguishable from a typical American to me.”

“I see,” said Megan. “Pretending to be someone else always came second nature to me. It’s easier than it sounds. I assumed that August… or someone… had already told you.”

“You’re about to go through a rather traumatic memory of hers,” said Daniel, “but I think it’ll help in that you haven’t been through enough traumatic events to truly see what it’s like to put your life and the lives of others on the line out there. All of us have had to go through something like this at one point in our careers. Tell me, what do you know of the MROVID-43 attack?”

“It was back during He Who Shouldn’t Be Talked About’s presidency. A strain of the _M. robertsii_ virus dangerous to humans spread worldwide from locust swarms originating in the Horn of Africa and eventually became known as the MROVID-43 pandemic in late 2043. It was at the beginning of 2044 when the pandemic was so bad that everyone had to go into quarantine in their homes. The World Health Organization held a conference with world leaders in Geneva around then to explain the severity of the issue. Little did anyone except for a privileged few—one of which was Megan, or rather Candide—know that, around that time, _Alqua_ had found a way to weaponize the virus and make it even deadlier.

“ _Alqua_ attacked the WHO conference with bombs filled with their new strain of the virus and killed a lot of people. For a while Geneva had to be shut off and quarantined from the rest of Switzerland before the other countries rushed to put out a vaccine. It was pretty bad. Are you… are you saying Megan nearly stopped this attack?”

“She came pretty close, yeah,” said Daniel, “but you’re not gonna make the same mistakes she did. You’re going to stop the attack this time.”

Jacqueline nodded.

Megan said, “If you don’t mind, I’m going to be absent for a bit. The fact that these events already happened once was bad enough,” as her hologram disappeared.

Looking in Megan’s direction for a moment, Daniel turned back to face Jacqueline. “Good luck, Jack,” he said as his hologram disappeared and the simulation resumed.

The terrorists stopped spraying Jacqueline for a moment. Jacqueline spat out water despite that it hadn’t choked her and she was not cold from it. Admittedly she felt bad that she wasn’t feeling the same pain Megan was; what Megan likely went through mentally must’ve been horrible.

“Tell us how much your handlers know about our attack,” said her interrogator.

Jacqueline stayed silent.

“Very well,” said the terrorist as he went over to a table and connected some jumper cables to an electric battery.

 _Shit,_ thought Jacqueline, _they might actually damage my endoskeleton with that if I don’t act._

The terrorist with the cables said to another, “Undress her. Now that she’s all wet, she’ll conduct electricity better.” He then turned to Jacqueline and said, “Unless you’re willing to talk, that is, Candide.”

Jacqueline said nothing.

“That’s a shame,” said the terrorist as he touched the jumper cables together until they emitted sparks to help scare Jacqueline.

“Last chance, Candide. Are you willing to tell us what you know?”

Jacqueline said, “Go to hell.”

“So be it,” said the terrorist as the other terrorist went towards her and was about to cut open her nightgown with a curved Karambit knife, presumably so they could attach the jumper cables to her chest, when Jacqueline decided to blow her cover again and cut through the chains binding her hands to the chair with her laser cannons, and then blasted a hole through the terrorist’s torso.

The other terrorists started swearing in various languages, and grabbed their automatic rifles and start to shoot Jacqueline while she cut the chains binding her legs to the chair. She then stood up, picked up the chair, and chucked it at the terrorist with the jumper cables, smashing his face in with it.

She then engaged in close quarters combat with the terrorists before they could continue shooting her. She grabbed one terrorist’s arm and crushed it, causing him to drop his rifle, and spun him around to use as a human shield. The terrorist she was holding absorbed most of the bullets being shot her way; she then charged at one of the other terrorists in the room and smashed her hostage’s skull into his head, knocking him out and causing him to accidentally shoot one of the others in the room.

Jacqueline then used her laser cannons to shoot and kill the remaining terrorists here, while wounding the one who tried to electrocute her with a stunning electric energy spread shot blast.

The terrorist tried to crawl toward his jumper cables with what strength he had left, only for Jacqueline to step on his arm before he could grab them. She picked them up.

“Talk,” she said, “The MROVID bombs. Where are they being made?”

“They’re done being made,” laughed the terrorist. “They’re on their way to the target now. You’re too late.”

“You saw my abilities. I can still stop them,” said Jacqueline.

“You may be able to stop the attack, but you won’t,” said the terrorist, “because if you do, Marie dies. I wonder if you would have talked if I told you about her earlier?”

“ _Marie?_ ”

But before Jacqueline could question who Marie was, the terrorist pulled out a grenade and pulled the pin. Jacqueline quickly ran out of the room as the grenade detonated, killing the terrorist.

Jacqueline navigated through the biotech factory _Alqua_ had turned into their sleeper cell, prioritizing speed over stealth. The terrorists were shooting computers and shredding hard copies of documents, and evacuating the sleeper cell via cargo trucks.

_Damn it,_ said Jacqueline, _how do I figure out which one is which?_

She tried to think of a solution, then decided maybe it would be best to get to the WHO conference in Geneva and warn everyone first if possible, but regardless she’d have to defend the people there.

She saw a final cargo truck about to leave; a terrorist was loading the truck’s fuel tank with gasoline. He had just put the fuel tank’s cap back on and was heading to get into the passengers’ seat when Jacqueline snuck up behind him and snapped his neck.

She used her boosters to quickly ascend to the passenger’s seat, then blasted the terrorist sitting in the driver’s seat with her laser cannon. The impact of the laser cut through his skull, knocked him against the driver door of the truck, and splattered his blood against the door’s window, breaking through the window as well.

Jacqueline pushed the terrorist’s corpse out of the truck’s door, grabbed his key and started the engine. While grabbing the wheel with her left hand, she carved a hole in the windshield with a continuous laser blast from her right arm’s cannon.

She then stepped on the gas pedal, and drove out of the biotech factory’s garage and into traffic.

_I never really understood why people who weren’t essential workers chose to risk their lives being out and about during the pandemic,_ she thought as she swerved through traffic, trying to catch up to and bypass the other trucks.

The smartphone of the terrorist she killed was attached to a stand on the stereo, and its ringtone was going off.

_Should I answer it?_ Jacqueline thought of Hong Kong, when the Architects managed to figure out that she wasn’t Farid when they asked for a status report. She had recorded the voice of the terrorist interrogating her… but she just had to upload the recording’s audio data to her own artificial larynx in order to answer the call. The terrorist driving this truck was a different one, though; despite that she had a built-in Arabic translation modular library she could navigate, skim and use accordingly, she’d have to come up with a bluff. She was bad at bluffing.

_Well, I’m still training, so I might as well give it a shot._

Jacqueline picked up the phone.

“You’re driving your truck very fast, brother. Give me a status report.”

“Our cover’s blown,” said Jacqueline, “and Me- _Candide_ escaped.”

“Damn it. Are you sure?”

“I was in the room before she managed to escape.”

“That’s not good. Do you know where she is now?”

“She escaped. Does it sound like it?”

“Don’t talk to me like that!”

“Right. Sorry about that.”

The terrorist said, “You’re not acting like yourself. Despite that our cover may have been blown already, we don’t want to draw any more attention out in the open. Provided we take advantage of traffic patterns, we should be able to keep anyone on our tail from discovering which trucks have the bombs in them and which are decoys. Try to drive less conspicuously, and we’ll rendezvous with you at the summit.”

“Right, see you there. _Allahu_ _akbar_ ,” said Jacqueline as she hung up, and took a shortcut using her BISECT’s GPS system where she assessed that the other trucks would be least likely to come in contact with her.

Given the time in the simulation that the summit happened—or was going to happen—she was about to run out of it. She tried to speed up, but pedestrians in the market area wearing masks (and some that weren’t) were getting in the way.

 _Fuck it,_ said Jacqueline, as she hit the brakes, jumped out of the driver’s seat and continued on foot. She used her jets to accelerate her speed.

The pedestrians’ eyes (and mouths) went wide and they began to stare and point at Jacqueline collectively while talking to each other in awe.

According to her BISECT’s GPS, Jacqueline was near the WHO building the summit was taking place at; she used her grappling hook to ascend to the rooftops to get a vantage point. Her enhanced vision allowed her to see the trucks pulling up to the WHO building in the parking lot across the busy street.

She quickly fired her grapple line at the frame of the WHO building, activating holographic notches in her vision to help her aim and account for the grappling line’s drop distance. She then detached the line from her wrist and attached it to a nearby pipe on the roof, and descended the zipline at a speed even faster than her jets could manage.

She then dropped from the zipline as several terrorists got out of the trucks, and slammed into the asphalt of the parking lot in the middle of them before they could react. This created a massive area-of-effect shock wave that punched a massive hole in the asphalt, and sent the terrorists’ bodies flying and slamming into the sides of their trucks and other nearby vehicles.

Jacqueline quickly dispatched the terrorists still conscious with a barrage of rapid laser cannon fire, sacrificing arm recoil control, range, and damage for the sake of rate of fire and being able to spread her blasts to multiple targets at once.

One of the terrorists with a bomb strapped to his chest ran toward a nearby crowd grabbed his detonator in his hand. Jacqueline steadied her aim, and blasted him with a charged electric shot to the head, stunning him before he could hit the detonator’s button.

Jacqueline looked at the crowd, who was staring at her and the terrorist in fear.

Jacqueline ran at the terrorist lying semi-conscious on the ground, ripped the detonator from his hands, and punched him in the face. “Are there any other bombs I missed?”

The terrorist murmured. “Go to hell…”

Jacqueline punched him again. “Answer me!”

The terrorist laughed. “It’s you, isn’t it, Candide?” The terrorist said in a manner that suggested he was taunting her, “There’s one where Marie is.”

_That name again._ “Who’s Marie?” Jacqueline asked.

The terrorist looked confused. “What are you talking about? Did your brains get zapped too much from those fucking jumper cables! I assumed you were going to ask _where_ she is!”

The terrorist looked over, and smiled. “It doesn’t matter. I guess you’re going to die thinking about her, whether you know who she is or not.”

Several bullets from another _Alqua_ terrorist’s suppressed Vector. 45 submachine gun hit her, breaking her skin and damaging her endoskeleton’s UltraAlloy; nearby civilians started screaming and running for their lives.

Jacqueline slid behind a parked car, peeked out, and fired at the incoming terrorists in the newly arrived trucks. She kept pressing them with rapid laser cannon fire, trying to hold them back and defend the WHO building, and picking off terrorists carrying the MROVID bombs first.

After she picked off the last bomb carrier and reduced the _Alqua_ cell to a tenth of its size, the local police showed up and arrested the remaining _Alqua_ terrorists.

The police surrounded Jacqueline. “Hands up!” one shouted in French.

Jacqueline put her hands above her head. A policeman examined Jacqueline’s armor underneath the parts of her missing flesh and said, “What the hell are you… some sort of Terminator?”

“She’s a hero,” said an oddly familiar voice as an oddly familiar-looking man in his early thirties approached the police.

“Mr. Brand?” said one of the policemen. “Don’t tell me that… _thing—”_ said the policeman, “—is your doing too?”

“Please tell me you’re not implying I’m responsible for this terrorist attack.”

“N- no, sir,” said the policeman. “I was talking about the vaccine your startup was developing for the virus.”

“Ah, right. I’m responsible for the vaccine, but not for her,” said a younger August.

“Thank you for saving me, miss!” said an oddly familiar young girl who had to be no more than five or six. Something about her made Jacqueline feel uneasy.

“Caitlin, I told you to go back and hide in my company plane!” said August.

“I know,” said the girl, “but I wanted to see what was happening, and what that robot lady did was _sooo_ badass, like something out of _The Avengers!_ ”

August said, “You could’ve died, though, Caitlin. And what did I tell you about social distancing?”

Caitlin rolled her eyes and head as she said, “You _always_ tell me that.”

“And about swearing?”

“All right, daddy, I’m going back to the plane,” said Caitlin. “Bye, misses! Thanks again! My name’s Caitlin by the way! I hope I get to know yours! You’re a real hero! A _super_ hero!”

“ _Caitlin…_ ?”

As Caitlin skipped along back to the WHO building, August said, “Forgive my daughter, she’s just getting restless being cooped up because of the pandemic and all. But I’m glad you saved our lives today,” said August.

“Thanks…” said Jacqueline quietly, looking in Caitlin’s direction.

“I don’t know whether you know who I am or not, but I’m working on developing a next-generation private military corporation. What you did was today was impressive. If you’re ever looking for work, I’ll be around the corner. It’d certainly pay better than a government job, and it would get more done as well. Think about it,” said August as he handed Jacqueline his business card. 

Jacqueline hesitated. 

“You’re not contagious, are you?”

“No,” said Jacqueline, who nodded after snapping out of her trance, and took the card.

“Now that I think of it, I doubt you’ll ever be contagious again. Good job, Jack,” said Daniel.

Then the simulation dissolved again.

**Experimental BISECT-R Room, Transcendence PMC Training Facility, Camp Summer, California, USA**

Jacqueline was heavily disoriented when that simulation ended.

“What happened to Caitlin that day, Megan?” she said in a slightly panicked tone. “Did you stop the terrorists before they detonated the bombs?”

Megan said nothing; she was looking away, twitching, her arms crossed.

“How did Caitlin and August survive?”

“Their plane was there, they managed to make it out in time. I was able to warn them; I knew I couldn’t take on that many terrorists. Not after how bad they had fucked me up.”

Jacqueline wanted to cry. Jacqueline said, “Wait, Daniel, why’d you end the simulation? I didn’t get to stop all the bombs.”

Megan frowned at this. Daniel said, “What do you mean?”

“There was a name the terrorist mentioned. Marie. He said there was one where that person lived… they were saying it like the name meant something to Megan… or, Candide. Megan, who was Marie? Do you know?”

Daniel tried to make a gesture with waving his hand next to his neck while shaking his head no, but it was too late. Megan shoved Jacqueline angrily, and yelled, “Don’t you _ever_ say that name again. You hear me?” shouted Megan. 

Daniel stepped in and said, “Easy, Meg. I think we both need to leave the past in the past,” then added while looking at Jacqueline, “no matter how recent.” As Megan walked away from the BISECT-R chair room again, Daniel said to Jacqueline, “For the record, if it means you won’t ask Meg again, Marie was her kid. She was barely a year old at the time.”

Jacqueline looked at where Megan had been standing, then turned to Daniel and asked, “What happened to her?”

Daniel said, “What do you think?” When Jacqueline wasn’t sure how to respond, Daniel told her, “Jack, word to the wise, there’s more that I want to see you demonstrate in these training simulations than just your fancy combat abilities. It’s your ability to understand and assess situations, and make hard decisions based on them to prevent bad outcomes from happening. Sometimes that involves a bit of sacrifice.”

“But… didn’t I stop the attack from happening?”

“You did,” said Daniel, “and that was good, but that wasn’t what I was looking for. Try to keep that in mind during the next simulation. This one’s going to be mine. That event was traumatic enough for Megan to relive, let alone recreate, and I could tell the part with Caitlin was for you as well. As a soldier, you’re gonna find facing our worst fears and some of the nastiest types of evil on Earth to be a regular part of the job.”

Jacqueline looked around. “So… what’s next? Am I going to win the second cold war? Take down the president and his fellow conspirators in Russia?”

“At first I was gonna have you do that,” said Daniel, “and I was looking forward to it since that was a mission which I’m proud to say I was a part of in real life, but business is business. I helped make another sim at the last minute that will help challenge you in the ways you need to be challenged; not just when it comes to combat.”

 _Damn,_ thought Jacqueline, _I was looking forward to that too._ Jacqueline asked Daniel, “so what’s the sim you’re going to have me go through instead?”

“You’re about to find out,” said Daniel, as the world dissolved around her again.

**The National Mall, Washington, DC, USA**

Jacqueline awoke in Daniel’s body, to the sounds of rioting citizens all around around her. She was dressed in a Secret Service outfit.

There were burning Nazi swastika symbols and rioting citizens all around her, and the other soldiers were massacring them and spraying them with tear gas.

Jacqueline saw a pregnant woman choke half to death from the tear gas, before a rubber bullet pierced her womb. Jacqueline had to look away from that.

Daniel’s hologram appeared next to the woman. He said, “Despite that America was free of the puppet president’s regime, by then nearly half the nation, as well as one of the nation’s two political parties, was a part of his cult. This resulted in mass chaos nationwide.”

“Right,” said Jacqueline, “the Second American Civil War.”

“Right. Fifty million American citizens—over an eighth of the entire country’s population at the time— were wiped off the face of the Earth during the conflict; it was devastating. The next president that was sworn in as his replacement was assassinated on this day. I was part of the team that was supposed to save him during a hostage crisis in the White House bunker after continuity of government was initiated. But you? Well, let’s just say your objectives are more open-ended this time in terms of how you want to alter the timeline.” Daniel added, “Just know that whatever you do, whoever you choose to save, the outcome isn’t gonna be pretty regardless. It’s up to you to try and choose the path you think would cause the least amount of suffering.”

“Okay,” said Jacqueline, as Daniel’s hologram disappeared. 

Jacqueline thought, _so I’m going to have to kill some of the former president’s supporters…_ She then told herself, _but provided I do that, maybe the civil war will end sooner?_ She then thought, _these citizens are too far gone to save. Those bastards would’ve been okay with the government performing eugenics on people like me._

Jacqueline started using her arm cannons to slaughter the rioting American neo-Nazis. 

Someone in the crowd shouted, “That’s a supersoldier!”

“I knew it, the libs are going to kill us now that they’re in power!”

 _Damn it,_ thought Jacqueline.

Jacqueline remembered that she had to save the President from assassination.

Then one of the other Secret Service members said, “Hey, Daniel, listen to me. I just got word that my family is being held hostage by militia members allied with the police with bombs at the Lincoln Memorial, along with hundreds of other counter-protesters and even some diplomats from allied nations’ embassies.”

“What? Why would the police be forming an alliance with the militia?”

“Are you kidding me, Daniel! The police _are_ the militia; they’re a bunch of white supremacists who get off on murdering and imprisoning people of color and their allies!”

 _Shit,_ thought Jacqueline. “Listen,” said Jacqueline, “my orders are to save the president.”

“No, fuck that!” yelled the Secret Service member, “he’s as good as dead. Call this a gut feeling, but if those diplomats die, then we have very little chance of getting help from our NATO allies.”

Jacqueline bit her lip, and tried to think clearly for a moment. But she had already made had made her mind up.

“I’m sorry,” said Jacqueline as she headed for the White House bunker on her BISECT’s GPS map.

_I hope I’m making the right decision,_ Jacqueline thought, as she mowed down the neo-Nazis holding a technician hostage at a nearby terminal opening the entrance to the tunnel exits that were used for escape in the event of the invasion of the White House with her laser cannons.

“Jesus Christ, thank you!” said the technician. “They were gonna torture me if I didn’t open the bunker for them; they’re trying to cut off the President’s line of escape. Word is there are others coming in through the White House; several of those fucking coward politicians on the right, and even some on the left, have already let them into the bunker in exchange for their lives. You may be our only shot at saving the President.”

“Will you open the door for me?”

“Yes, now hurry up and go—oh shit!”

Another neo-Nazi wearing a suicide bomber vest charged at Jacqueline and the technician. Jacqueline quickly shot him in the head with a laser blast, but it was too late. She hit the deck just in time as the explosion blew off some of her flesh and tore the technician’s body to pieces.

 _Shit,_ Jacqueline thought. She quickly looked at the console the technician used to open the bunker doors. Fortunately, she was able to hack them so the doors opened.

 _You’d think the White House would invest in better cybersecurity measures at this point in history,_ thought Jacqueline, _although then again, they probably haven’t done so even in the present._

Jacqueline moved through the tunnels, avoiding the laser tripwires and security cameras lining the halls with the help of her optical camouflage augmentations. 

As she entered further into the bunker, she could see several IEDs lining the walls.

_They’re going to collapse the tunnels in the event that the President is rescued,_ Jacqueline thought.

Along the way, she defused as many IEDs as she could see with the help of laser cannons; she carefully cut the wires in the correct order, one at a time.

She blasted several neo-Nazi thugs guarding the corridors with a barrage of rapid-fire laser cannon blasts, and then picked up one she maimed before he could call for help, punched him hard in the gut, and then covered his mouth.

“Scream and I’ll kill you,” Jacqueline said. “Now when I take my hand off your mouth, you’re going to tell me where the President is being held.”

“I’m not afraid to die for my country,” said the neo-Nazi before Jacqueline zapped him in his genitals with her laser cannons. She then held her hand over the man’s mouth again as he howled.

“Right in the manhood!” the man cried. “Damn sheeple! Don’t you realize your president don’t give a flying fuck about you!”

“Tell me again or I’ll rip them off,” said Jacqueline.

“He’s in the conference room!” cried the man. “For god’s sake, please at least leave me one—“

Jacqueline broke the man’s neck, then headed to the conference room.

She smashed open the door, then managed to shoot all the neo-Nazis inside, while avoiding the bombs and hostages—one of which was the President.

“Thank you, sir,” said the POTUS as Jacqueline untied him and helped him up.

“We need to get you all out of here, they’re going to collapse the tunnels!” said Jacqueline.

“Right,” said the POTUS. “We’ll follow you.”

Jacqueline led the POTUS and other hostages out the way they came as the White House tunnels began to collapse. They managed to make it out of the bunker tunnels and to the surface just in time to see the battle start to calm down. 

The White House itself was on fire, its façade a crumbling mess.

“We’ve rebuilt it before,” said the POTUS. “As long as we have brave men and women like you, America and its very way of life will never die.” The POTUS shook Jacqueline’s hand.

“Sir!” yelled a Secret Service member. “The diplomats you were going to meet with—they’re all dead!”

“What?”

“It was at the Lincoln Memorial, sir—it was blown to bits.”

“This is bad news,” said the President before the simulation paused and Daniel’s hologram stepped in once again.

“Given how bad of a liar the President is, like most politicians, it’s ironic how what he just said was the truth,” said Daniel. “Fortunately, in reality, the diplomats were never killed.”

“Wait,” said Jacqueline, “you’re telling me you rescued them instead?”

Daniel nodded. “Ever wonder why I joined August’s PMC?”

Jacqueline said, “Was it at some point not long after this?”

He said, “I lost a lot of faith in the US government over the years, but this moment in time was the straw that broke the camel’s back. I chose to go rescue the diplomats and saved the US’s relationships with the rest of the world’s nations. If it weren’t for the help of NATO, the Second Civil War would’ve resulted in a lot more deaths.  
“As a result, I was fired from the Secret Service for refusing to go after the President. I had to live in my car for a little while, struggling with PTSD, alcoholism, and serious income issues like a lot of veterans do in this country. I was likely bound to end up in prison, or worse, before August showed up and saved my life.”

Daniel continued by saying, “You may call this cynical, Jack, but America and its ‘way of life’ either died long ago or never existed in the first place. The neo-Nazis on the far-right may be evil, but the neoliberals on the center-left weren’t much better. Actually, they’re more like two sides of the same worthless coin. It’s up to future generations like us to make life better for people, and yet the government and the majority of the corporations that lobby it are stuck in their ways.”

“That’s what I want to do,” said Jacqueline.

“It’s not as simple as it sounds,” said Daniel, “and after choosing to save one rich senile old man and his friends who were known for rigging the economy in favor of the wealthy and passing laws to lock up people of color and immigrants—just like the President I helped take down—over the lives of hundreds of innocent civilians that could’ve saved hundreds of thousands more, I’m having trouble believing you have what it takes to.”

Jacqueline sighed. _I must’ve fucked up._ She asked Daniel, “how do I know who to save and who to sacrifice? How do I know who the good guys are and who the bad guys are?”

“To answer your first question,” said Daniel, “if possible, try to save everyone, but if you can’t, which is likely… try to choose the outcome that will save the most people. With that said, doing so is complicated and always depends on the situation. It’s hard to make decisions that could potentially alter the course of humanity’s future while in the midst of battle, but it’s something we have to do daily.

“As for your second question… there are no good guys or bad guys, ever,” said Daniel. “In the end, the whole ‘good versus evil’ spiel is a lie, meant to hide the fact that war is just natural selection in disguise. Just because someone’s on the winning side of a war doesn’t mean they’re the good guys. Humanity isn’t black and white, Jack, it’s every shade of grey, every color of the spectrum.”

Jack tried to process what Daniel was saying. She said, “Okay… so, what about the Architects? What kind of… shade are they?”

“The kind that got sick of first world nations bombing their homes, turning their families into collateral damage, profiting off of their suffering and the stealing of their nations’ resources… The neo-Luddite thing makes sense too, given that every human being has to make a living, and machines are taking that away from them. Despite all that, they’re still our enemy we have to fight, simply because that’s what we’re told that they are. That’s the reality of being a soldier, Jack; in the end, you have to kill people, and no person on Earth is truly worth killing.”

Jack said, “I see.”

“All right, I think that’s enough training for today,” said Daniel. “You did a decent job, Jack, but you’ve still got a lot to learn.” 

And just like that, the simulation dissolved once again.

**Experimental BISECT-R Room, Transcendence PMC Training Facility, Camp Summer, California, USA**

Jacqueline woke from the simulation to see Daniel, Megan, Grigori, Victoria, Aidan, Camille, and August standing in the BISECT-R room. August was talking quietly to Camille about something; they were standing away from the others.

He asked her, “will you do this for me?”

Camille nodded.

Grigori said, “so how’d our Ripper do?”

Daniel replied, “Not bad.”

“That’s high praise coming from you, Dan,” said Grigori.

August walked up to Jacqueline. “Well, from what I hear it sounds like you’ve been training pretty hard. I’m proud of you.” He continued by saying, “If it’s all right with all of you, I’d like you to join me for drinks at the usual place in LA. It’s on me. I’ve got a lot on my mind that I’d like to discuss with you.”

Grigori said, “Can’t argue with that, sir.”

August asked Jack, “Do you want to join us? I know you can’t taste anything anymore, but…”

“I’ll tag along,” Jack said, “if not for the drinks, then for the company.”

August smiled. “Let’s get going then.”

**“The Head Splitter” Bar, Los Angeles, California, USA**

At the bar, Jack was holding her hand up to her head with a sad expression on her face.

Daniel, Grigori, and August were sitting nearby her, conversing while drinking; Megan was sitting by herself, sipping her drink and not saying a word. Camille was utterly silent, not doing or saying anything.

A male bartender smiled at Jacqueline and asked what she wanted to drink or eat. 

“I’m not hungry or thirsty right now,” said Jacqueline, not even bothering to look at the man.

The bartender said, “um… all right, let me know if you change your mind,” before going back to cleaning glasses.

Victoria said to Jack, “How are you holding up?”

“My senses of taste and smell are gone, and my other three senses feel vastly different. I miss being hypersensitive to sensory input.”

“Well… at least it’s better than being dead?” said Aidan.

Jack’s eyes went wide as she stared at her reflection on the bar table for a moment.

Grigori interrupted them and told Jack, “Hey Jack the Ripper, I think that bartender has the hots for you. If I were you, I’d take advantage of the opportunity before Megan does.”

Jack looked over to Megan, who gave Grigori the finger indifferently.

“I’m not interested in him,” Jack said to Grigori. “I don’t know if I’ll ever be interested in anyone ever again. I doubt he’d be interested in me either if he found out what I am.”

“Suit yourself,” said Grigori, as he downed his drink. “Hey, Daniel, how come you ordered coffee?”

“I told you a thousand times I don’t drink anymore, Griggs,” said Daniel.

“And I told you a thousand times never to exaggerate,” said Grigori.

August said to Jack, “Jack, listen. I underestimated you before; you were incredibly brave to make the transition from human to transhuman, and you may have saved our company in the process. In addition to that, you’ve done a great job training to be a member of Transcendence’s military branch.”

“I just wanted to survive,” said Jack, “and I still want to avenge Caitlin.”

August said, “so do I. We’re all still grieving. But that’ll have to wait. The technology summit I’m hosting in Geneva is going forward as planned. I’ve invested too much in the Ripper patent to lose my clients’ attention now. You’re going to be there with me to show off your abilities since you’re the prototype.”

Jack sighed. “I don’t do very well with crowds.”

“I know,” said August, “but if you want to be a soldier, you’re going to have to face a lot more terrifying things than crowds. Please, Jack, the company is in jeopardy if I don’t present the patent in its ultimate form—transhuman—and you’re currently the only working model. Will you do it?”

“I will,” said Jack, “but…”

“What is it?”

“August, I just realized something a minute ago. I really am dead. My body is a machine, and my mind isn’t really my own—it’s just a copy. My real mind died with my body. I think that’s why I was so scared when I awoke from my coma; I may feel like myself, but I’m not. If we’re really going to market the Ripper patent to the public…”

August looked at Jack solemnly, his expression grave. “I understand. But as much as I hate to say it, the Ripper patent is meant to be humanity’s future. This is what you and I have dreamed of building, and now that dream has almost been fulfilled.”

“I just am wondering if I should’ve had that dream in the first place…”

August put his hand on Jack’s shoulder. “There’s no time for second thoughts. If you won’t do this for me, or for humanity’s future, please… do it for Caitlin.”

Jack nodded. “I said I will.”

August smiled sadly.

They were interrupted when Daniel, Megan, and Grigori approached them. “So boss, when are we heading out for the mission?”

Jack looked at August, and said, “They’re coming to the summit as well?”

“Not exactly,” said August. “They’re going to investigate an Antitech sleeper cell near Beijing that Transcendence’s analysts found via ELINT and SATINT. They suspect it’s the one that was responsible for hitting an ally of mine’s tech subsidiary’s headquarters in Zhongguancun at the same time we were attacked in Silicon Valley.”

“Shouldn’t I go with them?”

“No,” said Daniel, “you’re needed more at the summit in Geneva.”

“You’ll be with us in spirit,” said Megan.

“Don’t worry about us,” said Grigori, “we can take care of ourselves. And we’ll be fighting alongside each other soon enough.”

Daniel frowned as Grigori said this.

August said, “They’re right; for now, it’s best that you attend the summit, Jack.”

Jack frowned slightly, and nodded. She looked at Victoria, Aidan, and Camille. “Are you all coming?”

They shook their heads. “They’ve got their own work to take care of,” said August.

Jack said, “Fine. When do we leave?”

“This evening,” said August, “the company plane is already being prepped as we speak.”

Jack said nothing in response.

The bartender broke the silence and said, “Are you all leaving?”

“Yeah, why?” said Daniel.

“We’ve got a two-for-one deal. Grigori ordered a burger and fries, you get to take home our dish of the week for free. It’s lasagna.”

“Sounds like a bargain,” said Grigori with a grin.

Jack frowned as she thought, _lasagna’s my favorite._


	3. "TRANSCENDENCE"

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jack is showcased as the Ripper prototype patent at the Transcendence main headquarters in Geneva. Meanwhile, Daniel, Megan, and Grigori go to investigate an Architects sleeper cell in Beijing after another terrorist attack-- not knowing that they're being watched.

**MACHINA**

**BOOK 1: TRANSHUMANITY**

**TABLE OF CONTENTS**

ACT 1— “HUMAN”

Chapter 1— “Genesis” … Page 1

Chapter 2— “Rebirth” … Page 39

Chapter 3-- “Transcendence” … Page 70

Chapter 4— “Manufactured” … Page 102

Chapter 5— “Architects” … Page 140

Chapter 6— “Meltdown” … Page 188

**Chapter 3— “Transcendence”  
Transcendence Main Headquarters, Geneva, Switzerland**

The company plane was about to land on the roof of the Transcendence Geneva building.

Jack looked out the window of her seat. She was shocked by the size of the crowd outside the building; they were lined up on the streets for blocks!

_They’re all lined up because they want to become Rippers like me,_ Jack thought.

The Geneva night skyline was beautiful; the neon blue haze of the lights on the streets below caused them to glow. The colorful lights of the skyscrapers and other buildings cast their reflections onto the surface of Lake Geneva.

Out of all the buildings in Geneva, Transcendence’s headquarters was one of the tallest. Not to mention that it had company parking lots, medical clinics, manufacturing facilities, and other company buildings connected via skybridges across several blocks.

Jack ran her hand over her blonde hair as she looked at her own reflection in the window; while it was once a thick, disheveled mess, now it was flawless, shiny, and wrapped in a ponytail. She then looked at her red dress she was wearing.

_Who on Earth picked this godawful dress out for me? I hate how it looks,_ she thought. _In this case, I’m actually glad I’m not sensitive to the feel of my clothes anymore, given how tight-fitting the goddamned thing is._

Jack got an uneasy feeling as the plane touched down on the roof. _I’m a new product, about to be shown off to a bunch of businesspeople._ She then thought, _but I don’t want to be shown off to them looking like this!_

If Jack could get nauseous anymore, she would’ve.

August was already getting off of the plane, along with several of his advisors. Jack anxiously followed suit, walking down the plane’s steps in high heels.

A man with a German accent wearing a suit said, “This is the Ripper?”

Jack looked at the man in confusion.

“Yes, she is. Apologies, Jack, he’s part of the marketing team.”

“ _Marketing team?_ ”

“Yes, as the prototype, August said he wanted you to be part of the marketing campaign for the Rippers.”

“This is news to me,” said Jack, looking at August in confusion.

August said, “Arnold, do me a favor and get acquainted with Jack later; this all had to be arranged on short notice.”

The marketing person, Arnold, nodded, and walked with them and several others down the stairs of the roof into August’s penthouse office.

_Christ,_ thought Jack, _I’ve seen only glimpses of it so far and I can tell it’s much bigger than his penthouse in Silicon Valley._

A new secretary, someone other than Ellen, was talking to August as they were about to head to the elevator. “Mr. Brand, Lucas Rich has been trying to reach you for hours.”

“Damn him,” said August. “Thanks for stalling, Monique. Tell him I’ll deal with him once we make it down to the lobby, where the showcase event’s going to be.”

_The showcase event?_ Jack thought.

“Your bodyguards are all in place, sir,” said a man wearing bulky armor underneath his black suit and tie, as well as a headset and set of glasses; he looked like August’s head of security.

“Good. Then we shouldn’t run into any more issues tonight,” August thought.

As Jack, August, Arnold, the head of security, and a few others entered the elevator and it began to descend toward the lobby, Jack asked August, “August, none of this is making sense. What’s this about me being a part of the marketing campaign? I thought I was supposed to be a soldier.”

August looked at Jack, and smiled. “What you’re about to do for the company is going to change the world for the better, Jack; much more so than you being on the front lines fighting terrorists. The world needs to know how capable your invention is, but we have to do it through the proper channels. Isn’t that what you always wanted?”

“What is?”

“Changing the world for the better. I could tell from the moment I met you that you were ambitious not just in what you invented but what you wanted the inventions to be used for.”

“That’s correct,” Jack responded, “and now I want to be used to fight the terrorists who attacked us and killed Caitlin, not to further your company’s profits.”

“That’s the thing though,” said August, “you’re still doing the former, even more so than if you were to be a soldier. We want to send the Architects a message that there’s a new invention we made that will wipe them off the face of the Earth. Provided investors like what they see, next thing you know, everyone will be wanting to augment themselves for protection. And if not on the individual level, then governments and private military corporations will want to augment their soldiers.”

Jack frowned, and bit her lip. “All right, I’ll take part in your marketing campaign.”

“Thank you for doing this for me, Jack,” said August, “I’m sorry for throwing you through all these hoops on short notice, it’s just that after the attacks, the company’s desperate—”

“I’m not doing this for you,” Jack interrupted, “I’m doing this for Caitlin.”

Silence filled the elevator for a brief moment before the doors opened and the silence was drowned out in the deafening noise of the crowd waiting to see August’s new patent.

As August was saying something to the others about telling the PR people to hold off the media for a moment while Arnold prepared the presentation for the Ripper showcase event, Jack crept away into the crowd and sat at a nearby bar, as if she was one of the members of the audience rather than the star of the show.

To her surprise, she saw someone she knew here other than August, even if it was just for a day… the day she shed her mortal body and traded it for her new one.

Emrik Winter.

He was sipping a glass of vodka at the bar, talking to a few others. A gorgeous woman in a blue dress with blonde hair like hers—only it was probably natural hair—was sitting to the left of him. “Emrik?” Jack couldn’t help but say. Emrik turned and looked at her, along with the woman, and the two of them ended up looking a little shocked.

“Hello, there. Do I know you?” he said; he seemed confused. The woman smirked briefly.

Now it was Jack’s turn to be shocked; he didn’t recognize her. _You idiot, why would he?_ she thought. _I look different now; not to mention that he only saw me once during lunch._

“Um… yes, we met in Silicon Valley while you were at lunch with August. I was that scientist, Jack… Jack the Ripper.”

Emrik looked at her briefly. “I don’t understand; you don’t look like J---” Then she could see Emrik finally begin to understand through his facial expression changing. “My god… you’re actually…”

“…a Ripper now,” said Jack.

The woman in the blue dress frowned at this.

Emrik said, “According to the marketing team at Transcendence, along with the local news anchors parroting the same thing, the prototype Ripper is going to be put on show tonight. Why in the world did they make you their first Ripper?”

Then Jack remembered briefly. All it took was the image of Caitlin’s bloody face pressed next to hers before she knew she did not want to revisit that event now.

“It wasn’t their decision. I volunteered,” Jack lied, before realizing that the lie was at least half-true, it was just that the alternative was death.

Emrik leaned toward her a little, appearing genuinely concerned, and said, “Why did you choose to let them do that to you? Removing your consciousness from your real body and uploading it into a mechanical one. It didn’t seem like there was anything wrong with the real you when we met.” The woman frowned slightly at this.

Jack looked away out of a mix of embarrassment, guilt, trauma, and god only knew what else for a moment.

With his eyes wide, Emrik looked away awkwardly for a moment. “Well, you’re braver than I am, consenting to a surgery as dangerous as that.”

Jack lied more. “I understand transhuman science better than most people. I knew what I was getting into; it was my team that designed the invention.”

“Of course. I’m sorry to say that I’m not nearly as interested in or knowledgeable about transhumanism as you are,” said Emrik.

“It’s all right,” said Jack, but then caught herself. “Wait, but if you’re not interested in transhumanism, then why did you come here?”

“I’m simply here in lieu of my parents; they’re the ones who’re doing business with your boss, August. Or at least they’re supposed to be,” Emrik said, looking away again.

“Oh,” said Jack. “Well, that’s ok if you’re not interested in it. It is a very confusing science.”

“It’s not the complexity of it that makes me lose interest in it, but the lack of ethics,” said Emrik.

“I think I understand,” Jack said, not knowing what else to say. They were both silent for a moment. Emrik sipped his vodka.

August contacted Jack via her BISECT. “It’s time to prepare for the event,” he said. 

Jack put her hand to her ear even though she didn’t need to. “Got it, boss. I’ll come find you.” She then turned to Emrik. “I guess I have to go now.” Nervously, Jack said, “…will I see you again?”

Emrik smiled slightly, as if he was amused. This time the woman’s smirk was wider. “Perhaps,” he said, then turned away to look at the crowd and his smile went away. “Good luck with the presentation,” he said. “I’m sure you know what you’re doing.”

Jack nodded, and said, “Bye,” then headed to August. Glancing briefly back Emrik’s way, she saw he was already talking to the blonde woman in the blue dress; she looked Jack’s way briefly, smiled, and shook her head while Emrik was downing more of his vodka. This confused Jack.

If her face could still turn red from… whatever it was she was feeling… then it probably would’ve. She may be dead, but she was relieved she could at least feel something. She wasn’t sure why, but talking to Emrik helped her forget about Caitlin… at least for the moment.

But some of what he said toward the end of their conversation confused her. _Maybe he doesn’t want to see me again. I guess it would make sense… he’s pretty much royalty… and I’m a nobody._ Then it started to make sense—he said he wasn’t interested in transhumanism; maybe he was scared of her and what she chose to become.

Worse, Jack realized the woman Emrik was with was staring at Emrik with the same admiration she imagined she would look at Emrik with if she could still make facial expressions that weren’t as stiff and robotic. Jack froze out of embarrassment for a moment. _Oh, Jesus,_ she thought, _that woman must’ve been his— and I just walked up to the two of them looking like a complete fool!_

Snapping out of it, Jack thought, _why the hell am I thinking about him so damned much? I need to focus; I’ve got a job to do! Even if it’s not the job I was hoping to do… Fuck… I can’t believe I lied to Emrik so much… I have no idea what I’m doing anymore. Maybe I never did._

Her train of thought ended nearly in sync with her walk to August backstage in a massive lecture hall-esque room that was designed in a way similar to 19th century operating theaters, only with a futuristic design like the rest of the Transcendence skyscraper and its interior, like the buildings she’d seen from bigger cities on business trips… or like the ones in Hong Kong.

“Your Ripper is late,” said a familiar-looking man. Jack then realized it was one of the people who were in August’s penthouse the night of the Architects’ attack that killed Caitlin.

“Lucas, if you’re worrying about the functionality of the Ripper, then you’re an idiot, and I know you’re not one. The woman who consented to have her mind uploaded to it is just a little surprised by the crowd turnout. She’s more passionate about my business than you probably are.”

“I wouldn’t be surprised if that’s true,” snickered Lucas, “but you promised me the Ripper patent would be impressive. It would be a shame if you can’t deliver on the promise.

“Do you mind telling me why the person who consented to become the first Ripper is afraid of crowds when she should be afraid of much scarier things than that?”

“Hey, I’m right here!” said Jack.

Lucas and August turned toward Jack. 

“I was aware of that,” said Lucas, “but you’re going to need to do well in this tech demonstration to earn my attention, Ripper.”

“I plan to,” said Jack.

“Right, but things don’t always go according to plan, do they?” said Lucas. “Whose consciousness is in that thing, August? Frankly I can’t tell whether or not this so-called ‘Ripper’ is actually just a combat android.”

“I’m not an android, I’m a Ripper,” said Jack as she frowned.

“You’re only further proving my point. You just seem like another robot to me.”

Jack frowned even more. “Who is this guy, August?”

Lucas smirked condescendingly. “I can answer that myself actually, although despite your lack of memory storage in your computer you have for a brain, I’m surprised you don’t know. My name’s Lucas Rich; I’m the CEO of Providence. We’re a startup PMC partnered with August as a client.”

Jack reluctantly shook hands with the man, partially upset by how much of a jerk he was, and partially amused by how he had the audacity to be such a jerk to her and August when he was merely the CEO of a fucking startup company. “Jack the Ripper. And for the record, the computer my consciousness is stored in is called a BISECT.”

“Your name’s Jack the Ripper?” Lucas laughed. “August, was this some kind of marketing ploy?”

“No,” said August, “her name was Jacqueline before she became a Ripper.”

“Ah, of course,” grinned Lucas. “My genuine apologies… Jack the Ripper. Well, I hope you’re a good performer, because the Ripper patent is going to be a massive moneymaker; it’ll help the current world order thrive as well as keep it intact by enforcing its laws. The amount of citizens rioting worldwide due to their own negative outlooks on the fairness of the economy is concerning to say the least, and Rippers like yours will allow companies like ours to keep the peace.”

“Your concerns about the need to enforce law and order are pretty ambitious for a startup company,” Jack said.

August’s face went red with embarrassment. Lucas grinned. “You honestly believe Providence is a startup?”

“You just said you were one.”

Lucas started to laugh uncontrollably.

“What’s so funny?”

Calming down, Lucas stopped laughing and said, “Dear, Providence is the biggest conglomerate in the world. I don’t know how much you know about how business works, but I can understand… somewhat… why you didn’t know about my company. It owns so many well-known businesses that a lot of ordinary citizens overlook who owns said businesses… Most of the world’s governments are heavily influenced by our lobbyists. August can confirm that. Won’t you, August?”

August frowned without looking at Lucas, and said to Jack in a deadpan voice, “He’s telling the truth, Jack.”

Jack wasn’t sure how to respond to that. All she knew was how frustrated she was.

“August, while you may be one of my better business partners, I have to admit, for the sake of the marketing campaign, you could’ve chosen a better human candidate to inhabit the Ripper prototype, or just used an AI program instead. Jack the Ripper here makes the worst of the android caricatures in bad science fiction movies look sophisticated in terms of their ability to comprehend human thought; I doubt she could even pass the Turing Test.”

Jack took everything she could to restrain herself from punching Lucas. She had never met a bully as big as him.

“I told you why I chose her,” said August.

“And I told you I don’t care,” said Lucas. “Don’t disappoint me, August.”

August said nothing as Lucas stepped out and headed into the audience.

Once he was gone, August said to Jack, “Sorry you had to deal with him, Jack.”

“I wanted to rip his teeth out one by one,” she said. “Why on Earth do you do business with an asshole like that?”

August sighed. “Like he said, Providence is the biggest corporation in the world. Therefore, he’s my biggest client. Transcendence can’t compete with the likes of him, so instead, we collaborate so both of our companies can profit. I don’t have much of a choice to be honest.” August laughed at himself a little. “Lucas always jokes about how if my company is Hell, then his is the Lake of Fire.”

“He called Transcendence _Hell?_ ” said Jack in disgust. “And what’s a ‘lake of fire’?”

“You haven’t read the Book of Revelation, have you?” said August.

“Religion never made any sense to me.”

“It makes a decent amount of sense to me, it’s just not the type of sense I believe in,” said August. “Put simply, the Lake of Fire’s kind of like God’s version of Hell, used to punish the Devil and sinners even more painfully than how they were punished in Hell after Judgment Day occurs. They call it a second death.”

“So much for omnibenevolence,” Jack said. “Lucas must have a god complex.”

“He just likes to wax poetics,” said August, “although I wouldn’t be surprised if he does have one.”

“I feel bad for you, having to deal with him on a daily basis.”

“Don’t be,” August smiled at Jack. “Despite some of the stresses associated with being a CEO, I love my job. And despite dealing with selfish businessmen like him who do little with their quadrillions of dollars other than hoard it, I take pride in knowing my company and I are different. We’re going to change the world, Jack. It’s time to show the people what we’re made of.”

Jack nodded, and smiled slightly before heading out into the lecture hall for the showcase event, with apprehensive thoughts running through her BISECT like crazy.

**Providence Local Headquarters, Zhongguancun, Beijing, China**

A Chinese prostitute in a revealing red dress waited in an alley nearby Providence’s biotech subsidiary company, Singularity’s headquarters, watching the streets through the security camera systems.

“I see them. Facial recognition gave me a positive ID,” the prostitute said.

A hologram appeared in her vision, one of a mysterious shadowy figure that spoke in a scrambled voice. “Good, Yun. Converge; tail them and see what they’re talking about. Then you’ll want to beat them to the Architects’ safe house.”

The prostitute nodded, and headed out toward Singularity’s headquarter building.

There, Daniel, Megan, and Grigori were investigating the scene of the Architects’ attack on Singularity, along with Tom and Marcus, the two CIA agents.

Yun kept herself in the shadows and used her enhanced hearing to record their conversations from a distance.

Grigori said, “This building looks like shit.”

Marcus said, “They attempted to use thermite on the building’s main support pillars before someone discovered them. Nearly caused the building to collapse.”

Tom said, “We’re sorry to hear about what happened in Silicon Valley.”

Marcus said, “It sounds like Transcendence has been facing some serious financial risks ever since.”

Daniel said, “It’s all right; it’s not your problem anyway. What’ve we got here?”

Marcus said, “The Architects had a man on the inside who let them in; it’s similar to what you and your boss suspected about the attack on your own company in Silicon Valley.”

Grigori said, “Those _mudaks_ are everywhere.”

Tom said, “We interrogated him and found out the location of an Architects sleeper cell in an apartment complex nearby. That’s where the attack was planned.”

Daniel said, “Right, where’s it at then?”

Marcus said, “We’ll send it to your smartphones.”

Megan said, “Thanks. I guess we’d better head there.”

Grigori said, “Are you two coming with us?”

The two of them looked at each other and said, “For now, I think it’s best we stay here and continue to investigate the attack. We’ll catch up with you once you’ve cleared the sleeper cell of the terrorists.”

“Of course,” Grigori said, “you’re leaving the wetwork to us.”

“Not exactly,” said Tom.

“Orders are orders,” said Marcus.

“Bloody right they are,” said Daniel. “Megan, Griggs, let’s go.”

The other two nodded, and they headed to the safehouse.

Meanwhile, Yun managed to remotely hack into their smartphones by holding up her hand in their direction; her veins and eyes glowed blue. She then took some shortcuts through town to get ahead of them.

“China’s Silicon Valley,” said Megan as they trekked through the city.

“It’s got more smog in it than actual innovations; the air here is thicker than the smoke in my cigaweeds,” joked Grigori. “By the way Daniel, it was you who told August that Jack shouldn’t be allowed to do fieldwork yet, wasn’t it?”

“She wasn’t ready for it,” said Daniel. “While I do feel bad about how I treated her before she nearly died, I could tell that she lacked some of the skills soldiers need to assess their environment and get a read on others. I also couldn’t help but get the feeling that something was always off about her.”

Grigori took an inhale of one of his cigaweeds. “You ever seen _Rain Man,_ Daniel?”

“Let me guess, you have another movie rant you want to give,” said Daniel.

“I think she’s like Dustin Hoffman’s character. She’s good at crunching numbers and doing work, and bad at interacting with people. She’s a… what’s the word…”

“A savant?” asked Megan.

“Yup, that’s the one.”

“Yeah, that makes sense now that I think of it,” said Daniel. “Her behavior was a little odd, and she had trouble reading certain social situations. But that’s not what I was talking about.”

“What were you talking about then?” asked Megan.

“The reason I didn’t trust her earlier was because she seemed to be obsessed with her invention, almost like she actually did want to become a Ripper.”

“She became one to avoid dying.”

“Not the point,” said Daniel, “I’m saying she might have volunteered to become one if she didn’t nearly get killed, but the attack happened before she could do that. That’s a dangerous mindset to have. A soldier needs more than just a body capable of fighting, and on top of that, it seemed like she didn’t feel comfortable in her normal body.”

“So you’re saying she lacks confidence in herself to do what’s necessary.”

“Somewhat.”

Megan added, “You realize that August is obsessed with the Ripper invention too, right? If anything, his mindset is even more dangerous than Jack’s, and we take orders from him.”

“I know,” said Daniel, “which is why I didn’t address this concern to August initially. That, and because it’s pretty clear August cares about her… and Caitlin cared about her as well.”

Megan said, “Speaking of which… about August’s ‘clients’…”

“You mean Providence?”

“Yeah. You remember some of the details from Jack’s memories about the night she walked into August’s penthouse and accidentally stumbled upon Providence’s CEO?”

“I do,” said Daniel.

“So do I,” said Grigori. “Those clients seemed pretty shady to me.”

“You think it was more than just a coincidence, Griggs? That the Architects’ attack and August’s meeting with his clients happened on the same night?”

Megan said, “It could’ve been that the Architects found out about the meeting and planned to wipe them all out. It does make sense, given that they hit Transcendence in Cali and Singularity in Beijing all at once. The potential motives are there.”

“Then how come they didn’t attack the clients? They just went after the Ripper R&D team,” said Daniel.

Grigori exhaled smoke. “Frankly I think you’re starting to sound a little paranoid, Dan.”

“Whatever. Let’s get to the Architects, and start cleaning up the mess they made.”

“Sounds good to me.”

Yun was already outside of the terrorists’ apartment building. An Architects lieutenant, a Ukrainian man who was mercenary of some kind, was outside smoking.

Yun approached the man. “Hey, baby,” she said; she felt anxious but was neither allowed nor able to show it.

The terrorist looked up at her. “Not interested. Beat it,” he said.

“You sure you don’t want to have some fun?”

The terrorist glanced at her body with his eyes. He smirked. “You one of the girls from Macau?”

“Y- yes,” Yun bluffed.

The terrorist grinned. “Fine, come on inside. Consider yourself lucky; I’m willing to have some fun even though it’s a bad time to right now.”

Yun nodded, and walked inside the Architects sleeper cell.

Inside, there were a few men and women looking at some papers on the table. She could tell by their skin colors that they were from various locations from all over the world; the Architects truly were borderless.

“Who the fuck is that?” said a woman.

“Don’t worry, Anita, she won’t pay any fucking attention.”

“How do you know? She could be a spy.”

“She’s going to be a little too preoccupied to snoop around.”

“Fine, _svoloch_ , take her to the basement then and do your business with her down there so the noise doesn’t bother us.”

The Ukrainian man grinned, and grabbed Yun aggressively by the arm and took her downstairs.

As the man took her down the stairs, the mysterious shadowy figure’s hologram appeared next to her. The figure told her, “Remember, do not engage in combat with the terrorists until the others arrive. Use your nanites as surveillance devices; gather intel in the meantime. Also try to disable security around the compound so they can get in without a hitch. Do not let either the Architects nor the Transcendence mercs know what you are. Meaning if the mercs find you when cleaning house, try to befriend them. Don’t let them shoot you.”

Yun communicated acknowledgement silently through thought to her boss as the terrorist snapped his fingers in front of her.

“You deaf?” said the terrorist.

“What?”

“I said take off your fucking dress.”

Yun complied, and stripped down to her bra and undies.

The Ukrainian man stared up and down at her, and said, “Not bad.” He walked up to her and started to grope her as he started to reach toward her back to undo her bra. He kissed her on the mouth. She tried her best to kiss him back, although her lip movements were a bit awkward.

“Strange,” said the man as he frowned.

“W- what’s wrong?”

“You said you came here to have some fun with me. So why aren’t you enjoying this?”

“What?”

“You need to try harder. Get on your knees.”

Yun looked down at the man and reluctantly began to kneel on the dirty basement carpet.

“I’m not going to wait all day,” said the man as he undid his belt.

“Wait!”

“What now?”

“I’ve changed my mind. I want to leave. Besides, y- you- you haven’t even paid me!”

The terrorist grimaced. He then grabbed her by the neck.

“You aren’t from Macau, are you?” he said. 

“Yes, I am!”

The man grabbed Yun by the neck and slapped her hard in the face. She was surprised by this, but didn’t cry out. “The girls in Macau do as they’re told, and they don’t ask for money.”

“What are you talking about?” Yun said apprehensively.

The man shoved her to the floor. “You made a mistake by having me bring you in here. I’m going to have fun with you whether you like it or not. First you need to be taught a lesson, though. Consider it to be a necessary education that you apparently didn’t get enough of in Macau… if you’re even from there to begin with.”

Yun was terrified. After he tied her to a chair, he grabbed his belt and hit her in the back with it, leaving a red welt across her back.

“What are you doing?” Yun cried.

“I told you what I was doing. Now, you’d better not be the type that becomes silent and goes wide-eyed when they’re in too much pain. I hate those types of bitches; they remind me too much of the androids those rich assholes use to hunt and kill people like us. Now count every time I hit you!”

Yun couldn’t help it though; she would likely become that way because she had to have her consciousness leave her body to some extent in order to control the nanites to spy on the others. Admittedly she was relieved about it.

 _Let’s hope I can last before the others are able to find me,_ said Yun as the invisible nanites came to the surface of her skin and began to fly up the stairs, and her consciousness with it.

**Transcendence Main Headquarters, Geneva, Switzerland**

August started off the show in the lecture hall with a speech. Jack was terrified of the size of the crowd. But then, the more the speech gradually unfolded, the more she became terrified of something else entirely, something much worse and much stranger.

“Welcome, everyone, to the reveal event of Transcendence’s Ripper patent. Our scientists have worked on this project for nearly a decade now. Despite the time, energy, and resources that went into creating the Ripper, we believe it will be worth it.

“Over the past few decades, humanity has been wanting to change itself for the better with transhuman technology. Humanity has done everything from putting chips in their brains so they can think in sync with computers, to cybernetic limbs to replace their old ones and become stronger and faster, to bodies made almost entirely of metal parts in order to enhance themselves with tons of state-of-the-art gadgets, as well as weapons to make them into next-generation soldiers. 

“Ironically, so far the transhumanist movement has only made the humans that choose to augment themselves with the technology of the movement worse off. It causes issues like scar tissue buildup, dementia, chronic physical pain, severe mental health issues, and cancer. I could go on. These mechanical parts’ electrodes were not meant to connect with human tissue.”

The crowd looked at August with the look of intrigue on her faces. Jack was glad they were looking at him rather than her for the time being. “What few humans who ended up desperate enough to want or need the surgery would either not be able to afford it, not be able to afford the cost of health care to keep the human parts of their bodies intact, or would simply degenerate and die regardless of how much they’re able to have their illnesses treated.

“But what if I told you that there’s a better solution to becoming a better you. A you that can interact with computers using just your brain, modify your appearance to look any way you want to look, have enhanced senses and movement capabilities, live an exponentially longer life, last through practically any type of physical damage. Hell, you can even turn invisible if you wanted to! I imagine you’ve all wanted to sneak out of your workplaces every now and then during those long pointless meetings with your co-workers at some point in your lives. Well, at least I’ve wanted to.” The crowd laughed at his last remark.

“This is all possible through the Ripper patent. It’s not quite a cyborg, but not quite an android. Rather, by uploading someone’s consciousness to the Ripper—each of whose physical features and capabilities will be tailored exactly the way they want it to be—that person will be transformed into a demigod. A machine with human flesh on the outside, and a powerful endoskeleton and supercomputer with their human consciousness stored on the inside.

“But enough gloating. It’s time you see the first Ripper for yourselves. And you do see them. They’re standing on the stage right now. Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you… Jack the Ripper!” August smiled, and moved his hand to gesture in the direction of Jack.

Everyone gasped as they looked at Jack. The flashes of camera lenses and waves of whispers and murmurs rippled through the crowd. 

Jack went wide-eyed as she felt the hundreds of eyes in the room gaze at her all at once.

“Jacqueline Newman is the first human to consent to becoming a Ripper. Having undergone the surgery, she has also spent plenty of time in the laboratories where the Ripper was developed in my biotech subsidiary’s headquarters in Silicon Valley. Therefore, she may actually be better-equipped to explain what a Ripper is than I am!” 

August turned toward Jack as he said to her, “Jack, would you explain for these people what a Ripper is exactly?” August winked at her, and whispered away from his microphone, “You’ve got this.”

Jacqueline gulped and breathed in mentally before starting to get lost in her monologue, trying to think more about her passion of what she had spent years helping build and program instead of what was happening to her now—and the fact that she now had become her own creation. “H- hello, everyone… I’m Jack the Ripper. W- while I’m admittedly not the best at t- talking to people… I am fine with talking about what I’m made of. L- like August said, a R- ripper is a cybernetic being with artificial flesh on the outside tailored to the specific individual’s n- needs. I looked s- similar to this when I was human, j- just not as m- muscular.”

The crowd laughed awkwardly at this, but they seemed just as uncomfortable as Jack was now. “On the inside, a R- ripper has an endoskeleton consisting of a set of v- various mechanical joints, actuators, f- frames, interfaces, external armor layers, and sensors d- designed to detect and assess damage as well as obstacles and p- potential sources of danger in the environment. All of them are m- made of an alloy more resilient than most materials on Earth, another p- patent of Transcendence called UltraAlloy, which is d- designed to last for millennia. Pockets of n- nanites… or tiny m- machines… built into the armor’s mesh design help repair it and r- regenerate the artificial f- flesh when it gets w- wounded, keeping the outer appearance and the internal chassis intact.”

Jack’s stuttering and quick speaking got worse as she continued. The crowd eyed each other uneasily, which Jack’s hyper-awareness of didn’t help. “Besides its durability, its advanced augmentations include the following. Jets in its legs and extendable wings built into its back to allow for limited flight and accelerated movement. A set of multi-purpose infrared energy and nanite cannons built into the Ripper’s arms and hands. The energy and biofuel for the cannons and jets are both sustainable. Photoelectric cells to help generate optical camouflage to bend light waves around the Ripper’s body, making them invisible temporarily. A system of 3-Dimensional Analysis cameras in its eyes and microphones in its ears that can print clothing disguises and other people’s faces and voices onto its outer body and larynx, respectively. Everything from the textures, to the pigments, to the layers, to the surface shapes, are captured by these cameras; the Ripper is essentially a 3-D printer in this way.

“Then there’s the BISECT, which stands for Binary Intelligence Super-processor and Endoskeleton Control Terminal. It’s the neural supercomputer chip that is in the Ripper’s cranium and connected to the wiring that runs throughout the endoskeleton’s body to form a complete artificial nervous system. It’s where my consciousness is stored—”

That was when the strange part happened. Jack began to have a terrifying vision.

Jack froze in utter horror; words wouldn’t come out of her mouth.

August looked toward her out of confusion as the crowd’s murmuring started getting louder, and said, “Jack? Is everything all right?”

As Jack snapped out of her trance somewhat, she began to run off stage, which caused the audience to begin an uproar of utter confusion, which quickly turned to disbelief. She ran to the nearest place to hide she could think of—the ladies’ room.

Unfortunately, she was so out of her mind that she didn’t realize it wasn’t the ladies’ room.

“What the hell? There’s a woman in here!” yelled a man in a suit who was peeing in a urinal.

Jack ignored the man, ran into a stall, bolted the lock, sat on the toilet and began to scream uncontrollably.

She was holding her stomach, her face contorted as if she was trying to cry, when she heard the door to the men’s room open again, she then heard the clacking of dress shoes, and August’s voice. “Jack? Are you in here?”

“Leave me alone!” Jack cried.

“What happened up there, Jack?” said August.

“I don’t know!”

“You… um… you were staring right in the direction of me and Olivia’s way when you panicked and rushed offstage,” said Emrik.

“Wait, _Emrik?_ ” Jack said. Confused, she asked, “Who’s Olivia?”

“The woman who I was talking to earlier, in the blue dress,” said Emrik. “She’s a friend of my family, and another head of state.”

Embarrassed, Jack managed to say, “I didn’t even know I was looking in your direction. I was staring through you.” That was the truth.

Emrik said, “Try your best to explain what happened. I promise I’ll try my best not to judge.”

“Emrik?” Trying to calm down, Jack said, “I… just… had this vision… It felt so real… It was even scarier than when my mortal body was killed…”

“Wait… you were _killed?_ ” Emrik said, looking at August. “I thought you said you volunteered to become a Ripper!”

Jack didn’t say anything.

“Um… sorry, never mind. Not judging.”

Jack continued. “For some reason, I thought I was a Chinese prostitute… I was in this dirty basement somewhere, getting raped by a terrorist. He hit me with his belt… Back when I consented to undergo the surgery after the Architects attacked us in Silicon Valley and killed me, I at least felt like I was in control… somewhat… but this time, even though it was a dream… It felt so real I believed it was actually happening to me… Am I losing my mind? August, do you have any idea what’s happening to me?”

Outside the stall, August said nothing initially. Instead, Emrik spoke in his stead. “Um… I don’t know how to make you feel better, Jack… what happened in your head sounded horrible. But whether it was real or not, you’re still here, still you. And you’re safe here, there are people here who care about you. August cares, I care, and we’re worried. I’m sorry I judged you earlier; despite that I just now realized you lied to me about volunteering to become a Ripper earlier… I think I understand why.”

Jack looked up at the stall door, and looked through it using her X-ray vision. Emrik was bending over toward the stall, staring at her right in the face without seeing her. He looked worried.

She looked down again, and buried her head in her arms. “Why would you care about someone you barely know?”

“To be honest, it’s hard to say,” said Emrik. “I guess I care more than I should.”

Jack looked back up at Emrik again.

The door to the bathroom opened again. She heard Lucas’s voice. “August, what the hell happened out there?”

“We’re working on figuring it out right now, Lucas,” said August.

“Well, you’d better hurry. The crowd’s getting irritable. And so am I.”

Jack frowned at this.

Once Jack mentioned what happened in her vision, August’s expression that she could see through the stall door became serious, almost like he was thinking about something.

August said grimly, “Jack, I know you’re scared, but right now, we’ve got more things to worry about—”

“No, I’m fine,” said Jack. “I’m coming back out.”

**Architects Sleeper Cell, Zhongguancun, Beijing, China**

As the terrorist left her a bloody, bruised, naked mess on the floor, pulled up his pants, and went back upstairs, Yun was starting to come to her senses within her own body again. For some reason she had imagined she was on a stage at a fancy gathering of some sort, giving a speech about Rippers; she was wearing a much less revealing red dress, and was a blonde blue-eyed Caucasian woman instead of an Asian woman while she was being fucked.

Getting up and putting her bra, undies, and dress back on as her scars already were beginning to heal, she went over the footage of what she had already seen upstairs with her nanites while simultaneously hacking the apartment complex’s security systems through the servers up in their attic. The servers contained a ton of information on the Architects as well.

She snapped her attention back to the second floor and moved her nanites there as she heard the man who just tortured her conversing with the others.

“What’s going on?”

“Wipe everything. Shred all the papers. Wipe all the hard drives in our servers, laptops, phones, tablets. Shoot them until they break if you have to.”

“Why? Have we been discovered?”

“We think that whore you brought in was a mark. Our surveillance cams throughout Zhongguancun are showing Transcendence mercs converging on our location. Worse, security around the compound’s been disabled.”

“B- but that ain’t possible! She’s been downstairs the whole time!”

“She could be an android.”

“If she’s one of those Ripper things I heard about in the news, then I’m pretty sure I would’ve seen the metal through her wounds. I beat her pretty bad. Not to mention she didn’t resist at all… Then again, she didn’t cry or scream the entire time; she just went wide-eyed. She didn’t even sweat.”

One of the female terrorists put her hand to her head. “You’re disgusting, Vasily. Well, as much as I hate to say it, you’re going to have to beat her harder than that now. Find out if she’s a machine, then, whether she is one or not, kill her.”

“Fine,” said Vasily. “I’ll go do that now.”

“When you’re done, come back up here and help us with the remainder of the evidence.”

Vasily headed back down to the first floor, and walked toward the basement door.

_Thank God I have all the evidence,_ Yun thought, _but I don’t think I have enough time to upload it to the cloud before Vasily comes back down here! I’ll have to skim and look for the most important files to share with my handler._

Yun then went wide-eyed and covered her mouth.

_It’s the same location that was in my dream. They’re going there!_

Thinking quickly with what little time she had left, Yun sent that specific section of intel out using her BISECT, but not to her handler.

Then the basement door opened.

She heard the cocking of a handgun of some kind. She had to hide; if Vasily saw that her wounds had already healed, she was as good as dead.

She let her invisibility cloak envelop her, and hid in the darkness.

Daniel, Megan, and Grigori approached the terrorists’ safe house. Daniel looked at the apartment complex doors. 

“What the hell? I hear gunfire coming from the target building, but it’s not aimed at us!” said Megan.

“Why are the all the lights off?” said Grigori.

“The doors to the complex are wide open, too,” said Daniel. “Something ain’t right.” 

Then Daniel’s company smartphone went off. “Bloody hell…” said Daniel.

“Did you forgot to turn your smartphone off, Dan?” said Grigori.

“No. I didn’t.” Daniel frowned, and looked at his smartphone. “I got a file uploaded to my phone’s private Transcendence cloud app; it doesn’t say who it’s from, but it’s labeled ‘critical intel.’ There’s no signs of malware, but I can’t get rid of the bloody file either.”

“That can’t be good,” said Grigori.

“Something about this stinks,” said Megan.

“Yeah. I smell a rat. Stay sharp, team.” said Daniel as they donned their night vision goggles, and he opened the already-unlocked entrance to the first floor.

They could hear a male voice’s screams coming from the basement.

The door to the basement opened, and Yun came out, covered in Vasily’s blood.

Seeing her, they pointed their guns at her, about to fire before she put her hands up and sat down on her knees.

“One unknown ahead,” Daniel whispered into comms.

“Shhh, they are upstairs,” whispered Yun. “I am on your side.”

“Is that a prostitute covered in blood?” whispered Grigori.

“Griggs, check the basement,” said Daniel. “Megan, make sure she’s unarmed.”

Megan checked Yun. “She’s clean… aside from the blood.”

Grigori came back from the basement. “One unknown downstairs, KIA. Brutally. Someone castrated him, beat him half to death, and then gouged his eyes out.”

“That was me.”

Daniel frowned. “You expect us to believe you took down a terrorist?”

Grigori looked worried. “There wasn’t anyone else in the basement, Daniel.”

They heard gunfire coming from upstairs.

“They must know we’re here,” whispered Megan.

“No, they are destroying their electronic devices,” said Yun. “They are trying to wipe the evidence, some of which I sent to you via my BI- my mobile phone.”

Daniel frowned even more at this. “You ain’t no fuckin’ prostitute. Who are you and who are you working for?”

“My name is Yun,” she said, looking away.

Megan said, “Daniel, as much as I’d love to sit and play 20 Questions, we’re in a hostile AO that we need to clear out.”

“Right,” said Daniel. “Let’s head up to the second floor as soon as we’re clear.”

They heard Grigori’s suppressed M4 Custom automatic rifle’s shots coming from the mail room. “First floor clear.”

They headed upstairs with Yun staying behind them, and snuck through the kitchen. In the dining room, they fired a synchronized set of shots at the terrorists shredding documents there. A male terrorist was crawling with a bloody leg away toward the fine china glass cabinet. Daniel shot him in the head before he could make noise alerting the people upstairs by tipping it over.

They then proceeded to the living room, and shot the terrorists shooting their guns at the television, cell phones, tablets, and laptops in the room.

One terrorist shot Megan in the shoulder from the bathroom adjacent from the living room, across the hallway. Megan couldn’t help but make a loud groan from the pain.

Grigori shot the terrorist before he could shoot again.

They could hear shouting from upstairs. The gunfire stopped.

“Second floor clear,” said Grigori. “You all right, Megan?”

“I’ll live,” Megan grunted while holding her shoulder with one hand, and pulling out her suppressed M1911 with the other.

“All right, let’s take this slowly,” said Daniel. “I’ll go first.”

Daniel heard whispering coming from behind the door, so he decided to shoot through the wall. His instincts were correct; someone was preparing to shoot him with a light machine gun mounted on the back of a sofa once he reached the doorway.

They entered the office areas. Grigori shot a terrorist hiding under a table, Megan shot another one hiding behind a desk with a destroyed PC on it, and Daniel shot the last one crouching behind a turned-over empty filing cabinet before he managed to shoot him after peeking out from his makeshift cover.

In the bathroom, Daniel shot someone hiding behind the shower curtains. In the bedrooms, Megan and Grigori shot two hiding under the beds and one in the closet.

Yun yelled, “Watch out Grigori!” as a final terrorist nearly killed him with a SPAS-12 shotgun that was hiding out on the balcony before Megan managed to bash her in the skull with her M1911 and then shoot her there until she fell backwards over the railing of the balcony. 

“Third floor clear,” said Megan.

“Was that Krav Maga, Meg?” said Grigori.

“Now we’re even,” she said.

“Not quite,” said Griggs, “you’re still wounded.”

“Yeah,” said Daniel. “Griggs, use a medkit on her. Yun, stay with them. I’m heading up to the attic.”

“There is one more up there, I counted. I’m sure of it.” said Yun. “Her name is Anita; she was carrying an IED when I saw her.”

“Then I need to hurry,” said Daniel.

“Let me go with you,” said Yun.

“No, you’re a civilian, you’ll be putting yourself in danger.” He then added, “unless you’re not one.”

Yun said nothing at this.

Daniel headed up to the attic, and kicked in the door, only for Anita to rush at him with the improvised explosive device strapped to her chest. Daniel knocked the detonator out of her hand before she could detonate it; in retaliation, she slugged Daniel in the stomach with brass knuckles, knocking the wind out of him. Daniel grabbed his stomach, and fell to his knees, as the woman ran over to the detonator. She smiled, and flipped the switch, only for the bomb not to go off.

“What the hell—” she yelled before a bullet went through her right eye socket and out the other side.

Daniel looked up as Yun stood at the doorway, holding another Desert Eagle that a terrorist had dropped on the third floor.

Daniel said, “thanks,” before he regained his strength and got to his feet.

Yun said, “You’re lucky her detonator wasn’t working.”

Daniel frowned. “Yeah. Looked like the detonator was linked to a _cell phone_ planted on the IED.”

“What are you implying?” said Yun as she put away her pistol.

“Your combat skills are better than ours, and you managed to send us a message full of intel without a smartphone of your own. And you hacked the detonator.”

“I did neither of those latter two things. I used one of the terrorists’ devices to scan and send the intel when they were not looking. As for the detonator, that was pure luck.”

“I don’t believe in luck, and I don’t believe in trusting strangers either. You’re a Ripper, I can tell.”

“A Ripper?”

“You think playing dumb will work on me?”

Yun said, “Listen, whatever you are talking about, it doesn’t make any sense to me. I am telling the truth, I swear! Being a prostitute, I had to learn to defend myself.”

“Yeah, well you ended up trying to sleep with some tough adversaries,” Daniel said as he walked past her and they headed downstairs.

Daniel looked at Megan and Grigori and said, “Griggs, how’s Megan doing?”

Grigori said, “I think she’s better now. The med-syringe helped heal up her bullet wound; fortunately it wasn’t bad. Megan lucked out.”

Daniel said, “I don’t believe in luck; try to be more careful next time, Meg.”

Megan said dryly, “Good to see you too. Seems like Yun was a big help.”

Yun said, “And saving you is not the end of my help.” She said, “Daniel was right; I am not an ordinary prostitute, but I am working undercover as one. Unfortunately, I am not able to tell you who I’m working for. Nor can I share most of the intel I found.”

The others frowned. “Why not?”

“I can’t say, but you have to trust me with what I can share.”

“Why should we?” said Daniel.

“Look at what I sent you,” she said. “There is information on a mercenary supplier I have been tracking for weeks now, as well as sufficient evidence that this safe house was the source of the attack on Singularity’s headquarters, as well as the Chinese stock market. The servers upstairs allowed this place to double as a hackers’ den.”

Grigori frowned. “Why would the Architects be trying to start a war between the United States and China?”

“My best guess is it’s not the countries they want to start a war with, but rather Providence and Transcendence, given their respective headquarters for their biotech subsidiaries are here and in California.”

“Damn, that adds up,” said Megan.

“That’s a war we can’t win,” said Daniel.

“But that’s not all,” said Yun. “I suspect this might be the most important part. There is going to be an imminent terrorist attack on the Transcendence headquarters in Geneva. I have sent you a list of the identities of the terrorists who have been deployed to attack there.”

The others eyes went wide. “August is there right now, along with god knows how many people, many of whom are clients of his!” Megan said.

“Is this intel credible?” said Daniel.

“Of course it is.”

“How soon is it going to happen?” said Daniel.

“The files should say,” she said.

Daniel looked at his smartphone. “That’s less than an hour from now! We can reach August, but likely not in time to alert the local authorities!”

“ _Cyka blyat!_ ” yelled Grigori. “What do we do?”

Daniel’s face lit up. “Wait a minute…” he said. “I’ve got an idea.”

Yun said, “What is it?”

“We can contact Jack.”

**Transcendence Main Headquarters, Geneva, Switzerland**

After the show was over, Jack sat at the bar alone, feeling immense amounts of guilt. The crowd was impressed by the Ripper’s technology that went into its body, but they were disturbed by the consciousness inhabiting it due to her momentary scare. She may have singlehandedly ruined August’s marketing campaign.

Last Jack had seen August, he was going somewhere with Lucas, likely to argue with him.

_I may actually get fired this time,_ Jack said, _if I don’t bring the entire company down with me. Why do I have to be so terrible at talking to people?_

Then the next events that transpired made Jack forget completely about her guilt… for the moment at least.

Jack got a call on her BISECT’s communicator; as she responded, Daniel’s hologram appeared.

“Daniel? What’s going on?” Jack added, “Please tell me you’re not upset with me about Geneva as well.”

“Jack, listen to me very closely. You might be the only hope of protecting August’s summit in Geneva from an imminent Architects attack. You have maybe a few minutes before the attack begins, so it’s too late to call the local authorities.”

“ _What?_ ” Jack looked back at the crowd out of horror.

“We found intel in Beijing; we managed to acquire a list of identities of the mercenaries that the Architects hired to launch the attack. Is there any way you can use the intel we have to recognize the terrorists if they approach the headquarters?”

“Send it,” Jack said. “If you have pictures of their faces then I can use my eyes’ facial rec capabilities.”

“All right, Jack. It’s all up to you. If you don’t stop this attack, there’s going to be more than just a bloody massacre with a lot of friends among the body count. You’re a Ripper, and you’re a soldier. You can do this.”

Jack nodded, got off of her stool at the bar, and looked around.

Trying her best to multitask, she skimmed through the intel Daniel sent her, scanned the crowd for the faces of the terrorists, and tried to contact August.

“August, can you hear me?” she thought into her BISECT. “It’s the Architects, they’re here! You have to contact the authorities, now! August?” 

August wasn’t answering her calls. 

_Shit,_ Jack thought, _looks like I’m on my own._

Then Jack started to identify some Architects in the crowd. Jack hacked into the building’s security cameras remotely; after flipping through the different feeds, she saw that several more were approaching the crowd from the building entrance. Some were even setting bombs on the building’s support pillars.

_Jesus Christ, they’re going to try and bring this building down on top of us!_

Jack had to find some way to get the crowd out of here.

But it was too late.

She identified a scout in the room wearing a tuxedo disguise, and using her X-ray vision, could see that he had several IEDs thin enough to be undetectable from outside his tuxedo vest, strapped inside of it.

_Damn it, he’s a suicide bomber!_

Worse, Jack saw Emrik and Olivia were conversing with each other just a few meters away from the terrorist.

Having no choice, Jack screamed, “EVERYONE DOWN!”, charged up her arm cannons, and fired a laser at the terrorist’s head, decapitating him and making him drop the smartphone he was about to use to detonate the IEDs in his vest. 

The crowd gasped and shouted as the terrorist dropped his cell phone and some of the IEDs fell out of his tuxedo as his corpse flew right next to Emrik. 

Emrik’s face went white. Olivia screamed in horror.

Jack said to Emrik, “Are you okay?”

“Are- are those _bombs?_ ”

Then all hell broke loose.

In the lobby, the terrorists detonated a bomb to collapse the entrance doors and started firing into the crowd. Now the crowd was screaming and trampling over each other, desperate to escape from the attack.

Jack told Emrik, “Go, find a safe place to hide!”

Emrik nodded and ran away from the killzone with a trembling Olivia.

Jack ran to the lobby to hold off the terrorists that had just arrived.

Jack used her arm cannons to assault the Architects with a barrage of rapid-fire laser blasts; she had managed to kill a dozen of them before they knew what hit them. Then several Architects noticed her, and started firing their AK-102 rifles at her. The bullets penetrated Jack’s flesh, but merely left dents in her endoskeleton’s armor. Jack proceeded to kill the rest of them in the foyer.

She had lucked out; before she got to the foyer, the terrorists had only managed to kill roughly three dozen of the thousands of people at the summit. Casualties might’ve been much worse.

But the attack wasn’t over.

Jack used her legs’ jets to accelerate through the building. Meanwhile, she checked the security cameras again and made note of the locations of the terrorists were at in the building and the bombs that they had planted.

Jack made it to the first bomb location, an office room on the corner of the building. There, terrorists were killing everyone in the adjacent offices. Jack quickly blasted the terrorists with a multi-directional concentration of laser fire shots, along with some spread shots to knock some of the more heavily armored terrorists off their feet.

“Dear God, thank you…” said a nearby civilian hiding under a desk.

Jack nodded as she went to the bomb planted on the Transcendence building’s support pillar.

She then used a thin laser arc to cut the fuses on the bomb. First, she cut the green wire; after she did this, the bomb’s timer started to count down. She had under half an hour left to defuse the bomb.

 _Hold on,_ Jack thought, _why half an hour though?_

Jack managed to cut the yellow one, then one of the red ones.

 _Wait a minute…_ Before Jack cut the final red wire, she checked the security camera footage. The terrorists were starting to flee via the underground parking lot. Then she checked the other bombs’ locations… they were live now too, and they had the same timer on them.

The leader of the attack was speaking on his cell phone as he walked toward a van some of the Architects had infiltrated the building with. Jack listened in.

“Jasper’s plan is working. Unless the authorities figure out how this detonator works, the bombs will go off all at once.”  
“What about that Ripper upstairs?”

“She’s naïve. She’ll probably go after one of the bombs and bring the whole building down on top of her. And if she comes after us and the detonator…”

To Jack’s shock, she saw the terrorist turn toward some of his men, who were grabbing Emrik and holding him hostage. He then spoke back into his smartphone. “Then we kill the pretty Swedish boy she was flirting with earlier.”

The terrorist said to the other terrorists, “Load him in the van. And make sure to blow up the ceiling to the parking lot exit once we escape. We don’t want anyone to make it out… or follow us.”

Emrik was screaming for help as the terrorists stuffed him into the van.

 _Shit,_ said Jack, _this is really, really bad…_

As Jack was making note of the terrorists’ vehicles license plates and model—especially the blue van—August contacted Jack via her BISECT.

“August,” said Jack, “why weren’t you answering my calls?”

“I was in my penthouse talking with Lucas when we felt an explosion shake the building. What the hell is going on?”

“It’s the Architects. They’re here, and they’ve planted bombs all over the building… They’ve started ticking, and they’re booby-trapped. If I defuse one of them, they all go off at once, and they’ll bring the building down on top of us. But I don’t have a way or enough time to defuse them all at once either!”

“Shit,” said August. “just when I thought things couldn’t get any worse. I’m calling the local authorities and prepping my company plane. Tell the people in the lobby to come to the penthouse; we’ll try to get as many people as we can out of here.”

“All right,” said Jack. “I’m going after the leader and their detonator.”

“Wait, but Jack—”

“It’s the only way to save _everyone_ that’s left!” Jack didn’t mention that it was the only way to save Emrik as well.

“All right, good luck,” said August.

Jack nodded, and headed to the foyer.

At the foyer, everyone was whimpering about the people that had been wounded or killed, and were looking at the collapsed entrance to the building that was currently a bunch of rubble, ash, smoke, and spreading flames.

Jack, whose terrifying mechanical endoskeleton was showing from underneath her ripped-off artificial skin due to some of her bullet wounds, faced the survivors of the attack.

“Everyone, listen to me. The terrorists are gone, but there are bombs still in the building. I need you to go to the rooftops as fast as you can so August can help you escape via his private plane.”

“Are you telling us there’s no other way out?”

“Not without jumping out of a window, no. The terrorists have blown up all the exits on the ground floor.”

The guests of the summit looked at each other gravely.

“You all need to go. I’m going after the bomb detonator.”

“Wait, but how are all of us going to fit on August’s plane?”

Jack had no easy way to answer that.

“We’re all going to die!”

“Just get to the stairways and start climbing!” Jack said.

“Wait, are you saying they destroyed the _elevators_?”

“Yes, now go! I have to go!” Jack yelled.

“Please get the detonator, Jack the Ripper!” yelled someone among the crowd.

Jack looked at the crowd; they looked infinitely more terrified than she was. 

Jack merely nodded to them, and ran off as her artificial skin began to heal over her cold mechanical face and body.

Jack blasted through the second-floor window and landed safely with her jets, then started using her jets to accelerate through the streets of Geneva faster than the speed of traffic, using a satellite GPS system in her BISECT to track the terrorists and chase after them. Fortunately, she saw the local security contractors arriving to help evacuate the civilians from the burning building.

There were terrorists that blockaded a traffic circle in the middle of town, nearby a construction site where they had snipers perched. Civilians were screaming and running out of their cars as terrorists fired into the crowd. 

They were trying to stall Jack, but she had to act.

Jack used precise laser cannon fire with one arm to kill the terrorists crouching behind empty vehicles while avoiding hitting civilians, then used long range cannon fire with her other arm to kill the snipers firing down at them. A few cars exploded in the midst of the firefight, and Jack also had to fire an explosive laser blast to collapse part of the construction site with multiple snipers, nested machine guns, and a terrorist with an RPG.

Once the firefight was over, Jack checked her timer she created.

She had less than 15 minutes left before the bombs went off.

Trying to get a better vantage point, Jack ran through the construction site, and used her jets to do a little bit of parkour. Once she found an opening to get to the top of the construction site, she fired her arm cannons’ grapple line to zip to the rooftops.

She scanned the brightly-lit city streets from above in the skyline with her enhanced vision; she could see the terrorists’ convoy of trucks heading toward a train on the edge of Geneva.

They were trying to leave town.

Jack quickly used his jets to run across the walls of a set of skyscrapers adjacent to the construction site, and landed on the rooftops of a shorter set of buildings. Several Architects up on the rooftops converged on Jack; she shot them dead with more laser cannon fire.

She had less than 10 minutes; she had to hurry.

Using her jets and wings, she leapt off the rooftops to fly downward through the Geneva skyline toward the convoy of terrorist vehicles.

Several citizens beneath her looked up at her in awe; to her they looked like ants from here until she descended a little further.

She managed to steer herself through the narrow streets of Geneva that were made claustrophobic with skyscrapers lining them. Eventually, she landed running right on the trail of the terrorists. She kept accelerating with her jets so she could catch up to the cars on foot.

A nearby Architects techie managed to hack into the stoplights at an intersection right after the convoy made it through it. 

Jack had no choice but to sprint and jump through traffic, causing a few close calls and one minor crash along the way without taking damage herself, disrupting that entire street. 

As she finally managed to catch up to the Architects convoy, she used her grapple line to attach to the rear of one of the vans, ripping open its doors and sending several Architects flying out, fortunately Emrik wasn’t in with them in that van.

Jack grappled toward the van while her skin was being shredded off as she slid along the street pavement. Eventually, she managed to make it to the back of the van, and hop on top of the van. She then leapt from van to van, and blasted the ones behind her until they lost control and crashed. They tried to shake her off of the top of the cars with some evasive maneuvering as well as shooting through the cars’ ceilings. Jack was one step ahead of them with the help of the adhesive grips in her feet. Jack blasted the car beneath her, and managed to leap to the second last car; ahead of her was the van with Emrik and the detonator in it. However, the car lost control due to blowing a tire, throwing Jack off and having her collide into the side of a building and crash through the glass window of a small grocery store.

Jack quickly managed to get herself up, her endoskeleton now full of nasty dents and emitting electricity in places, while her skin was almost completely gone for the moment. She stared at the van through the broken glass window and the crowd of screaming civilians running out with her terrifying glowing red mechanical eyes.

Emrik was being taken by the terrorists onto the train.

She had less than five minutes left.

She ran after the Maglev train as it began to take off.

She was going to lose it if she didn’t get to it fast.

_Come on, not when I’m this close!_

She quickly launched a grapple line and it barely attached to the back of the Maglev train. She used her jets this time to try and stay off the ground as the train carried her while she grappled toward it. Some terrorists appeared at the caboose of the train and tried to shoot at her and sever her grapple line. Jack quickly tried to blast them with her other arm’s cannon, and eventually managed to hit them. Their bodies flew off the back of the caboose, barely missing hitting Jack.

Jack climbed on top of the caboose, and used her adhesive grip to climb along the roof of the Maglev train, using her lasers to fire piercing shots through the roof and killing the terrorists in the train cars one by one without hitting the civilians among them.

Emrik was at the front of the train, along with the detonator. Jack was two cars away from them when she had less than two minutes left. They were about to cross along a really high-up bridge moving over Lake Geneva between skyscrapers now.

She leapt to the car right behind the front of the train when terrorists climbed up to fight her.

They shot Jack several times before Jack grabbed the first terrorist by the back of the skull, and then blasted his head off while holding it. As a second terrorist tried to grab her from the side, she broke his arm, took hold of it, and chucked him into a nearby billboard, smashing it and his body to bloody bits. The third, fourth, and fifth terrorists tried to bash Jack with their rifles, and succeeded, but Jack kept her balance, grabbed the third terrorist’s rifle, smashed her head into his, and kicked him off the bridge as they began to go over. The fourth terrorist grabbed her and the fifth started shooting her. Jack broke the terrorists’ grip on her by crushing his hands, and then snapped his neck while he was still behind her. Jack then blasted the fifth terrorist off of the train and bridge as well.

The last two terrorists were in the front coach. The lieutenant was holding the detonator. The leader was holding Emrik as a human shield. 

Jack had twenty seconds left. She smashed a window open, jumped in, and blasted the lieutenant’s arm, dismembering it before he could detonate the bombs. She then kicked him hard into the wall of the train. She grabbed the detonator; she had ten seconds left. The terrorist grabbed her with his remaining arm. She gouged his eyes out with one hand, pulled him off of her, and threw him into the train’s controls at the front, then picked up the detonator, and disarmed all the bombs with just half a second left on the clock as the train started to go haywire.

Only partially relieved, Jack looked at the final terrorist, who was climbing up to throw Emrik off of the train.

Jack climbed to the top of the train after him.

Furious, the Eastern European man yelled, “You fucking _bitch!_ You ruined our plans!” Laughing, the man said, “But I’ll make you suffer!”

“NO!” yelled Jack.

She blasted the terrorist’s head off without hitting Emrik, but it was too late. Due to the train losing control, Emrik lost his balance and fell off the train. Jack quickly dove after Emrik and used her jets to accelerate her fall toward him.

“EMRIK!” she screamed, and accelerated until she was at max speed until she caught Emrik, hoisted him up in her arms, and then made a desperate turn to reverse her direction.

They missed hitting the lake at a deadly speed by inches.

A terrified Emrik caught his breath and said, “ _Jack?_ ”

“It’s okay, Emrik. I’m here. You’re safe,” Jack said, completely relieved now.

“Dear God…” Emrik said, looking at the train as it began to slow to a halt, barely avoiding crashing into the skyscraper on the other side of the bridge.

“Oh shit,” Jack said.

“What?” said Emrik.

“I can’t fly up, only do enhanced jumps with limited jet power!”

They crashed into the water, and Jack quickly made sure Emrik didn’t drown.

As they hit the water’s surface, Emrik gasped for air.

Jack said, “Are you going to be okay?”

Emrik said shakily, “I’m a little traumatized, but I’ll recover.”

“Hop onto my back,” said Jack.

“What?”

“I have to get you back to land.”

“…right,” said a blushing Emrik as he grabbed Jack from behind as she swam across the lake toward the shore.

Admittedly, it felt nice to have Emrik embrace her like this.

 _…wait, what is wrong with me?_ Jack thought.

Emrik said, “Jack?”

“…yeah?”

“Thank you. I owe you my life.”

Jack smiled shyly. “You don’t owe me anything.”

As they made it to shore, Emrik caught his breath and Jack let him sit on the pavement for a moment. Jack’s skin and endoskeleton were starting to heal again.

“Sorry I ruined your suit,” Jack said.

“You’re honestly worried about my suit being all wet and covered in blood?” Emrik laughed. “Besides, you didn’t ruin it. The terrorists whom you stopped did.”

Jack smiled again, but then her smile went away as Emrik winced as he grabbed the back of his head. “Are you wounded?”

“A little bruised from where the terrorist hit me in the head with his rifle, but other than that I think I’m unharmed. I’m probably going to need to check into a hospital though.”

“I can take you there,” Jack said. She thought about trying to heal Emrik by using her nanites, but decided against it because she was afraid of touching Emrik so intimately.

“Sure. Just… give me a second to rest.” Emrik said as he sat down.

Jack smiled while staring at Emrik when August’s hologram appeared via her BISECT.

“Jack, reports are that the building is still standing. Where are you right now?” said August. 

“I did it, August. I got to the detonator and killed the remaining Architects,” said Jack while looking at Emrik, who smiled back at her. “Everyone’s safe. I did it.” 

“Thank God,” said August. “At least there’s a silver lining after this disaster. Great job, Jack. I know you just had a hell of a night, but somehow you managed to pull through for everyone, and I’m proud of you for it.”

“I’m feeling pretty good about it myself,” said Jack.

“For now, given the marketing campaign is currently in shambles due to the Architects’ unwanted arrival, and given how the situation with the Architects is more desperate than I realized, I’m granting you your wish to be a member of Transcendence’s private military subsidiary. You’re about to go on your first actual field mission.”

Jack smiled.

August said, “I’m sending another company plane back to the building to take you to the mission.”

“Where are you going?”

“I’m on my own plane,” said August. “Lucas forced me to take him and a few other business associates of ours on the plane early due to the imminent bomb threat. We hardly managed to get anyone out of the building before we had to depart for Providence’s main headquarters in Rome. He complained that they would take too long to make it up the stairs and that we’d go down with the whole building as well.”

“While that man’s cowardice and selfishness disgusts me, I’ll admit, he might’ve ended up being right. If the building did go down.”

Then another hologram appeared within Jack’s vision. 

It was Lucas Rich.

“While I don’t appreciate your attitude toward your boss’s boss, soldier, I’m glad you at least suggested the decision I made was pragmatic.”

Jack frowned. “August, why did you give him access to our comms?”

“August agreed that the situation was urgent enough that he should let me contact you,” said Lucas, “but thanks to you it looks like it isn’t anymore.

“I underestimated you, Jack the Ripper. You took on an army of terrorists and saved an entire building full of people all by yourself. However, to what extent the Ripper patent made you capable of doing this is relevant as well.”

Jack sighed, and put a hand to her head.

Lucas laughed. “Relax; I’m not talking about the fact that you yourself needed to become a Ripper to stop an attack like this.”

“Then what are you talking about?”

“The fact that the Ripper patent is going to make other humans capable of these feats as well. The right humans, that is. Ironically enough, stopping the Architects attack ended up being a better demonstration of your patent’s capabilities than the demonstration August put together. Thanks to you, August and I are back in business, and the Ripper patent is going to be a massive success. I suspect I’m not the only one who thinks that after a large portion of the city just witnessed your feats. I’ll make sure the story reaches OMEN’s news anchors immediately, and that they spin it in a way favorable of Transcendence and the tech summit’s purpose.”

“Thanks,” said Jack reluctantly, then caught herself. “Wait… are you saying Oneworld Media, Entertainment, and News is one of Providence’s subsidiaries?”

“I suppose I was implying it,” said Lucas, who appeared amused at this. “Why are you asking? You sound surprised.”

“No reason,” lied Jack, not wanting to mention how blatantly unethical Lucas’s ownership of an entire media empire was; that meant he pretty much had all but a monopoly on worldwide news and could spin news reports anyway he deemed necessary. “I have my answer now though.”

Lucas grinned. “You still have a lot to learn about how business works. August mentioned how you and he are very alike due to your ambitions toward making the planet a better place to live for everyone. But I suspect you’re more pragmatic than even he is. Sooner or later, you’re going to find out that the best way to save the world is to understand that the world is meant to be a better place to live for some than others. Only so many people can be allowed to achieve their own individual ambitions before civilization starts to unravel. I suspect we’ll work with each other again in the future, Jack the Ripper. You’re always open to work for my company as well.”

“I’ll think about it,” Jack lied as Lucas went off of comms.

“Sorry about that, Jack,” whispered August as he returned to Jack’s comms.

“Remind me to insulate my BISECT so pricks like him can’t get inside my head in the future…”

“I’d love to,” said August.

“I may not be an expert when it comes to business, but it makes sense to me that an asshole like him would just want to screw you over and acquire the Ripper patent to use for his own goals… which I assume are just to obtain more money and power.”

“You may be more of an expert than you think,” said August, “because you’re right.”

“Why do you do business with him then?”

“It’s a long story, Jack. But it’s a necessary evil. You may understand it better someday.”

Jack said nothing in response.

“Head on back to the company hub building, Jack. The plane will take you to your next mission once it’s confirmed to be safe enough to land there.”

“Got it,” said Jack. “Is it okay if I stop by the hospital first?”

“Why?”

“Emrik got kidnapped by the terrorists; nearly lost his life. He’s got a nasty bruise on the back of his head and I promised him I’d take him there.”

“Sure, you should have plenty of time to due to the messy state the city’s in right now,” said August, “He’s a good friend of the company. Thank you for saving his life, Jack.”

Jack smiled, and asked, “What’s my next mission?”

“Daniel can tell you that part. I’d rather not discuss your mission while I’m on Lucas’s plane if that’s all right.”

Rolling her eyes, Jack said, “I understand that completely.”

“Good luck on your mission, Jack,” said August.

Jack smiled as August’s hologram dissolved as he turned off his comm link.

Turning toward Emrik, Jack said, “I may have to hurry to get you to the hospital. A plane’s about to arrive and take me to my next mission.”

Emrik said, “Then is there a way we can get there together faster?”

Looking in the direction of the hospital in sync with the translucent GPS data filter in her vision, Jack responded nervously, “Well… there’s one way… but there’s a catch.”

Emrik smiled widely as Jack said this. “What’s the catch?”

Jack gulped. “I’m going to have to hold you in my arms so that way I can use my wings and jets to glide us across the skyline.”

Emrik said, “Oh.”

“Sorry, is that weird?” Jack said.

“Weird? No, I’m just a little afraid of heights is all. Especially after what just happened,” said Emrik. “Why would that be weird, though?”

Scratching the back of her artificial head, Jack said, “Um… never mind.”

Emrik smiled, and held Jack’s hand. “It’s not weird, Jack. Let’s go then.”

Jack smiled shyly, and hoisted Emrik up into her arms as she managed to use the jets in her legs and wings and the grapple lines in her wrists to make it up to the rooftops.

After Emrik screamed for a few minutes, he began to relax more. As they glided through the chilly Geneva night sky, the two of them looked at the colorful lights and lively sounds of the city beneath them and in the distance.

“It’s actually not as bad as I thought it’d be,” said Emrik. “You’re helping me cure my fear.”

“Glad to hear it,” said Jack. Looking around, Jack said, “It’s beautiful.”

Emrik smiled, and looked Jack warmly in the eyes. He said, “So are you. I wanted to tell you that when we first met.”

“Thank you,” Jack said; she had never felt so many overwhelming emotions rushing through her before and enjoyed it this much. “Wait… you meant before I got augmented?”

“Yes,” said Emrik. “Why? Did you not think you were back then?”

“I… uh…”

Emrik’s smile went away for a moment. “You just have to be more confident in yourself, Jack. You’re an amazing woman. I wish I got to know you more before what happened that day.”

“You still can get to know me,” said Jack. “Um… I know back at the summit, when I asked if we were going to see each other again, your answer was ‘perhaps.’ I suspected you might’ve meant no, but—”

Emrik leaned closer into Jack’s arms and kissed her on the lips.

“We’ll see each other again. I promise,” said Emrik.

Jack smiled, but then she remembered. “Wait. But… aren’t you taken?”

Emrik said, “What?”

“That woman… Olivia, I thought she was your-- I mean, you just- kissed me, and she’s your…”

Emrik smiled. “She’s not. Actually, she’s more like a little sister than anything. Dating her would be weird,” he said. 

“Oh.” said Jack. “Right.”

“Don’t worry about her, Jack,” said Emrik as he embraced her again while they continued to soar through the city in between skyscrapers.

Right on schedule, she managed to drop Emrik off at the hospital.

After waving goodbye, she headed back to Transcendence’s headquarter building to wait for the plane to arrive. The local police authorities had rounded up the remaining Architects in the area, and firemen were putting out the fires in the building while examining the wreckage from the bombs that were detonated.

The survivors of the attack who had been extracted from the building interior looked at Jack out in the courtyard as she returned, and slowly began to clap their hands in applause until it gave way to cheering.

Jack smiled shyly as she saw the plane land on the building roof, and walked through the crowd to go board it.


	4. "MANUFACTURED"

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jack heads to Guangzhou to defuse a hostage situation at a Transcendence manufacturing facility, as well as prevent the Architects from sabotaging August's Ripper mass production line, and is forced to examine the ideologies of the Architects and the weight of the effects her Ripper invention will likely have on the world. Meanwhile, Daniel, Megan, and Grigori continue to work with the mysterious woman, Yun, to take down a human trafficker supplying mercenaries to the Architects in the slums of Macau, only to deal with heavy resistance on their way into his stronghold.

**MACHINA**

**BOOK 1: TRANSHUMANITY**

**TABLE OF CONTENTS**

ACT 1— “HUMAN”

Chapter 1— “Genesis” … Page 1

Chapter 2— “Rebirth” … Page 39

Chapter 3-- “Transcendence” … Page 70

Chapter 4— “Manufactured” … Page 102

Chapter 5— “Architects” … Page 140

Chapter 6— “Meltdown” … Page 188

**Chapter 4— “Manufactured”  
Transcendence Manufacturing Facility, Guangzhou, China**

Aboard the plane, Jack had time to process all that had transpired, as well as receive her briefing on her mission from August… and Daniel.

Appearing in a hologram within her vision, Daniel said to her via her BISECT, “August told me about the good news, Jack. I’m proud of you; I doubted you could pull off such an impossible task, but in the end, you saved a ton of lives.”

“Thanks Daniel.”

“He also gave me the job of briefing you since he’s got his hands full with his clients right now, so here’s the situation: Khaled al-Amin was in Beijing a few weeks before we got there to investigate. He recorded an ultimatum and programmed its footage to broadcast on social media not long after the attack on Geneva begun. Despite that you’ve probably seen it by now given it’s all over the news, I’m sending it to your BISECT now.”

Not mentioning that she hadn’t due to having so much on her mind already, Jack said, “All right, thanks Daniel; I’ll look over it for additional potential info I might’ve missed.”

“Good. In the meantime, we’ve got trouble in Guangzhou and Macau. Megan, Griggs, and I are following up on a lead we got from Beijing in the slums of Macau. You’re going to Guangzhou to resolve another hostage situation; this one was launched simultaneously at the Transcendence manufacturing facility there. It’s one of the main facilities where Ripper endoskeletons are being mass produced and sent to clinics worldwide so people can be augmented with them.”

Jack said, “Wait, so August was having Rippers manufactured before he managed to convince the public to buy them? Wouldn’t that be wasteful if they wouldn’t sell?”

“It was news to me too,” said Daniel.

“All right,” said Jack. “What’re we looking at?”

“Several Transcendence employees as well as Victoria, Aidan, Camille, and several newly hired scientists to replace the ones killed back in Silicon Valley are there. You need to rescue and protect them from the Architects. The bastards have managed to embed themselves deep within the facility; we’re in the dark in terms of finding where they are due to the fact that they managed to hack into the facility’s security systems.”

Jack put a hand to her chin for a moment. “Guangzhou and Macau are both very close to Hong Kong. Do you think the Architects’ main base of operations could be near there?”

Daniel said, “The Architects are borderless, Jack; they have sleeper cells all over the world, none of which will be easy to find. While I wouldn’t be surprised if they did have one there, shutting down one cell won’t be enough to finish them off. We need to find and capture Khaled; if we get him to talk, maybe we can find a way to locate and eradicate all of their sleeper cells. Capturing him will also cause the Architects’ ranks to descend into chaos.”

Jack said, “Right. I was just expressing a theory. So, I assume you’re looking for their base in Macau?”

“Like I said, we’re following up on a lead; unfortunately, there’s only so much I’m allowed to reveal. That’s compartmentalization for you.”

Jack said nothing before Daniel said, “And that’s most of what I have to tell you. I’m not going to tell you how to approach your mission; that’s your job, mate. Anyway, August wants to talk to you. The others and I are about to be busy getting our hands dirty, so I’ll leave it to him to continue briefing you. Good luck, Jack. Daniel out.”

Jack nodded as August’s hologram and voice replaced Daniel’s.

_“…this is getting out of hand, Lucas… no, forget it, we can’t wait that long, they’re out of the picture! … As highly as you think of yourself, you can’t control everyone, and I say they’re_ both _loose cannons, not just… Damn it, you know who I’m talking about! I highly suggest that you—”_

Jack said, “August? It’s me. Can you hear me?”

August looked surprised. “Um… Lucas, I’m going to have to call you back. Give me a few minutes. No, I’m not avoiding the subject. I’ll talk to you later,” August said before turning to Jack and speaking to her. “Sorry about that. Daniel patched me in a little too early. Whatever, forget about it. Jack, thank you again for everything you did last night. You single-handedly managed to save the company along with hundreds of lives.”

Jack replied, “It was my job, August. Have you gotten away from Lucas yet?”

“Thankfully yes; I’m back in Geneva now, dealing with the fallout of the attack. Thanks to the construction machines I invested in, the building should be repaired in less than a month from now.” 

August continued Jack’s briefing where Daniel left off by saying, “Word is the Architects are planning a much larger attack than any they’ve launched yet, or any terrorist attack launched ever, period. We’re going to get to the bottom of what that is. But right now, your job is to play defense.

“You’re going to do a HALO jump down to the rooftops of the company’s Ripper manufacturing facility and infiltrate the building from there, then clear out the facility of terrorists and rescue as many hostages as you can while also trying to collect some intel. 

“This is going to be different from Hong Kong; there’s not as much room for error, especially given that you’re really in the field this time, by yourself, instead of merely piloting the Ripper from home with the support of others. That and the facility and people inside you’re trying to protect are our own.”

“Shouldn’t you send the local authorities to clean the place up first?”

“No, I don’t want them to see anything that the Chinese government might consider a sign of wrongdoing; the ethics of the transhumanist movement is still taboo to many after all. In addition to that, I don’t want the Architects leaking any information about anything to the world that could be considered signs of potential wrongdoings either; that’s likely one of their main motives for attacking this facility along with halting Ripper production.”

Jack said, “I’ll make sure the terrorists are all dead and the hostages are safe before the police go in.”

“Good.”

“One more thing, though, August.”

“What is it, Jack?”

“You never told me you were already mass-producing Rippers. It seems like it’s too early to put them onto the assembly line given we just managed to convince the public that they’re needed, right? So why did you start so early?”

August said with a hint of uneasiness in his voice, “For starters, if the public wouldn’t accept the Rippers initially, then I’d have my PMC’s soldiers augmented with them over time. That would convince the public eventually by showing the patent’s usefulness, just maybe not for civilian use as much. It’d just cause a considerable loss in profits compared to selling the public and my business clients on buying them as well. As much as I hate to say it, Jack, Lucas is right; you have a lot to learn in terms of understanding the ins and outs of business.”

Jack responded with silence, and August said, “I’m sorry, Jack, but I have to maintain the company’s interests, and as much as I hate being dishonest or non-transparent with my employees, compartmentalization is important. Especially in times like these where we’re constantly being attacked.”

“It’s okay, August, I understand,” Jack said. “I won’t let you down. If it’s all right with you, if you’re done briefing me now I’d like to look over the ultimatum video the Architects sent out.”

“Sure thing, Jack,” said August. “August out.”

Jack nodded as August’s hologram dissolved from her vision.

Jack looked at the Architects’ ultimatum, which had Khaled narrating it. It included a compilation of various disturbing sets of video footage. The footage was showing the destruction of Third World nations at the hands of First World ones, along with clear demonstrations of worldwide inequality and crippling proxy wars between various national alliances.

_“The tyrannical Western global corporatocracy and the pernicious creep of its Fourth Industrial Revolution must be brought to an end. If they won’t let its end come peacefully through its pitiful attempts to disguise its nations as a democracy to their peoples, then we must bring about the end of it by force. The world’s 99 percent are tired of being treated like meat being thrown into a laissez-faire grinder. No matter our colors, cultures, or creeds, we are human beings as well, and your leaders profit off of our suffering._

_“No longer. We will not let the bureaucrats and corrupt politicians taking the money of the oligarchy while hiding behind meaningless rhetoric of promoting false unity or incremental change anymore. The change must be immediate, or we will all perish, and your leaders know it, but would rather watch the rest of the world burn instead. There will be a reckoning, and its consequences will be worldwide._

_“You brought this upon yourselves. We are the children of your apocalypse, and we are here to salvage what remains of our precious civilization, and the planet it exists on. We are_ Almuhandisin Almuemariiyn. _We are the Architects. And it is our goal to save and rebuild our world without hesitation so mankind can prosper once again… or at least the portions of mankind that deserve to live on.”_

Jack stopped to ponder for a moment if Khaled was entirely wrong.

_The images don’t lie… Daniel was right in that this war, along with all wars, were never black and white, good versus evil. There’s more going on than I thought._

Snapping out of it, Jack told herself, _Khaled is a hypocrite. He’s just preaching empty rhetoric as much as the politicians he’s talking about. Even if his ends are just, his means aren’t. He’s killed so many people, including Caitlin. And is changing up the current order going to do anything? Won’t it just plunge the world into anarchy? Then again, changing the current order is what August and I are trying to do. Shit, maybe Lucas and August were right; I do have a lot more to learn about business. That and politics._

 _It doesn’t matter, though. The Architects keep attacking us. I have to put a stop to them before they do some irreversible damage to Transcendence... and the world,_ she thought.

But now that she was officially a member of August’s PMC, she had a chance to do so.

Jack got a call from the pilot via her BISECT.

“Um… Jack the Ripper? Transcendence’s company plane would look too suspicious flying over the facility, so we’re going to deploy you to the ground via a helicopter in the plane’s cargo bay. You’re going to pilot the chopper yourself above the drop zone, then HALO jump down to the facility’s rooftop.”

Jack said, “I’m supposed to pilot a _helicopter_?” 

“August told me you’d be able to fly it by hacking it remotely using your… um… BISECT… and then flying it to a safe spot for extraction while simultaneously performing the HALO jump.”

 _He’s not wrong,_ Jack thought to herself.

“Are you really able to do all that?”

“I am,” said Jack. “I’ve just never flown a helicopter before, even though it should be easy to with the help of my BISECT.”

“Well, there’s a first time for everything,” said the pilot. “It took me a while to earn my pilot’s license. But I’m not a cyborg. Good luck.”

“Thanks,” said Jack as she approached the cargo bay. 

Jack looked at the helicopter in the cargo bay.

 _Nice ride,_ she thought.

Jack got into the pilot seat, and got a feel for the chopper’s controls using her BISECT while skimming through some flight simulator guides.

“We’re approaching Guangzhou. Get your rotors up and spinning, Jack; I’m opening the cargo bay now,” said the pilot.

Jack complied, and turned on the chopper’s engines. The helicopter’s rotors came to life until they were spinning at a speed fast enough for them to blur together.

She then flew the chopper out of the opening cargo bay and into the night until she had left the company plane and it flew away from her. She flew the helicopter downward toward a lower altitude until she was at a perfect height to start her HALO jump, then moved the chopper upright and corrected her course while locating the facility on her BISECT’s GPS. The translucent 3-dimensional map hummed to life in her vision with its soft full color spectrum glow.

As Jack approached the drop zone, she thought, _here we go,_ and transferred the sleek black helicopter’s controls to autopilot as she began to multitask. She held up her hand to the controls until the vein-like wires underneath her skin glowed blue to open the helicopter’s doors. She then climbed out of the cockpit to the back of the helicopter, approached the door, and leapt off into the night, using her jets to launch herself downward at an inhuman speed while she piloted the helicopter remotely until it landed safely a few klicks away from the facility.

**Slum Neighborhood, Near Macau, China**

Daniel, Megan, Grigori, and the mysterious prostitute Yun navigated through the slums of Macau amidst a massive flood caused by the storm aboard a hovercraft. They had managed to steal some spare outfits from the Architects safe house to disguise themselves as clients of this mystery trafficker Yun was leading them to.

Yun secretly communicated with her mystery handler via her BISECT.

“The British mercenary is smarter than I thought; do you think my cover is blown?”

“Just go with it for now,” said the mystery handler. “If they find out what you are, then play it cool and tell them they’re right, but don’t let them find out any more than that. Don’t let them know who you’re working for. But try not to let them know what you are regardless; that’s important.”

Yun responded with silence as the handler’s hologram disappeared from her vision.

In the meantime, she let the others converse while she listened.

Grigori said to the others while looking at the condition of the crumbling façade of several buildings in the slums amidst the downpour, “Can’t believe so many people have no choice but to live in shithole neighborhoods like this. Maybe August’s Rippers can help the citizens live better lives, even here.”

“Don’t count on it, Griggs,” said Daniel.

“Why not, Danny?” said Grigori. “It’s not like August is trying to screw them over. We both know him; he’s not a greedy slave-driver like so many other CEOs.”

“That’s a matter of perspective,” said Daniel. “In the end, he’s a have, and everyone living here is a have-not. That isn’t a coincidence. It’s by design. The design of people like him and his clients.”

Changing the subject, Megan said while looking at the lightning crackle in the superstorm above them, “Global climate change is getting pretty bad. Coastal inundation and superstorms like this one are slowly tearing the world apart. It isn’t going to be long before Europe’s mostly underwater.”

“Not to mention all the blue states in the U-S-of-A,” said Grigori.

“Commie bastard,” said Daniel jokingly. “You still hoping for them to pass the Medicare for All bill so you can get surgery on your lungs after inhaling all that bloody smoke?”

“Hey, you know what they say Danny? Better a commie bastard than a fascist one, and better a government that lets you smoke ‘em if you have ‘em than imprison you for it,” Grigori said as he punched Daniel playfully in the arm.

Daniel and Grigori chuckled at that for a moment. 

As Grigori’s grin went away, he said while reaching for his cigaweed pack and lighter, “You think Jack’ll be okay on her first mission alone?”

Daniel said, “I think she’s got what it takes. I admit I underestimated her… She’s still got a lot to learn, but I’m still somewhat in disbelief that she stopped an entire terrorist attack and defused an entire bomb threat single-handedly. It was an incredible feat.”

“Word is she chased the leader of the attack across the entire city just to get the detonator,” said Megan. “She’s nuts all right, but in a cute, mad-genius sort of way. I feel bad now for snapping on her about Marie. She probably didn’t know any better.”

Daniel frowned at this.

Megan asked him, “Do you still not trust her?”

“After protecting Geneva, she’s earned my trust. For now,” Daniel said, eyeing Yun and frowning.

Yun didn’t give anything away with her facial expressions. Not that it would’ve been easy to express her fears much anyway.

Continuing on, Daniel said, “I just can’t get the whole war for the future out of my head. It seems like there’s a massive clash of ideologies going on between Transcendence and Providence. And Jack is at the center of it since she invented the very machine that started the new transhuman revolution.”

Grigori said, “I also have been wondering something.”

“Go on.”

“Why do you think the Architects seem to be nearly omnipresent on a global scale given that they should be such a small and underfunded movement?”

“Good question,” said Daniel. “Maybe the world’s people support them more than we thought.”

Megan said, “But the Architects’ objective to terrorize humanity into accepting their demands might end up being counterproductive if you ask me.”

“How so?” said Grigori.

“It might cause the very technological revolution that they’re trying to prevent. The Architects are a huge threat; the Rippers are a way to defend the people from them and deal with the threat as well.”

Grigori joked, “I’m starting to think you’re trying to predict the future, Meg. You’d need precognitive abilities to do that. Like in Minority Report.”

Megan rolled her eyes at this. 

Daniel said, “Shh. You hear that?”

“What?” whispered Grigori.

“We’re coming up on my pimp’s stronghold. He’s likely in one of these buildings,” said Yun.

“You better not be leading us into a trap, Yun,” said Daniel.

“I have no idea whether or not I am,” she said. “He’s extremely manipulative, and he may have been tipped off that we’re coming for him after Beijing. Not by me though.”

“All right, we trust you enough,” said Megan.

“Mainly because we have no choice,” said Daniel.

Yun nodded.

Grigori said, “The houses in this area aren’t as big, and there’s a lot of ground to cover. But we still need to watch each other’s backs.”

“I say we split up into groups of two,” said Megan. “I’ll go with Yun. Daniel and Grigori, you go with each other.”

“You sure you’ll be all right on your own?” said Daniel.

“Do you have to ask?” Megan replied, then added, “Besides, I’m not,” and gestured her head in the direction of Yun.

“Just watch your own back. Something ain’t right about her,” Daniel muttered to Megan while leaning toward her before they split up. Yun used nanites to follow and keep an eye on Daniel and Grigori.

Yun went with Megan. “Do you have any other ways to narrow down his location?” Megan asked her.

“He frequents a tavern often, along with the various pod buildings to help intimidate the people living there, kidnapping or killing them. Whatever he sees fit. Then there’s his penthouse… and the brothel he runs.”

“Did you get that, Daniel?” said Megan over her communicator.

“Affirmative. We’ll locate and search for the penthouse and tavern,” said Daniel. “They shouldn’t be hard to find.”

“Glad we picked those, because covering the pod buildings will be a tax on my lungs right now,” said Grigori. “I’ve been coughing up a fit ever since we arrived in China. Although I admit I was curious to see what the brothel is like.”

“Can it, Griggs,” said Megan.

 _Great,_ thought Yun, _that paranoid Brit still has eyes on me through Megan’s gear. Best I be careful._

Megan and Yun neared the pod building complex, and entered by climbing into a crack in the rotting concrete walls; fortunately, the razor wire had been ripped apart by the superstorms as well.

The closer they got to the pod buildings, the more screaming they heard, and the closer they smelled something foul in the air.

“Griggs may be right about the air here being a tax on people’s lungs,” Megan said.

“Despite the health issues it poses, the other girls and I get used to it,” said Yun. “Since we live here, we don’t have a choice.”

“Did you originally choose to become a prostitute?” said Megan.

“No,” said Yun, which was half-true. “Why would I want to be one?”

“I wondered if you had been foolish enough to do something like that at a point in your life,” she said, looking away.

“You make it sound more like you’re talking about something you did yourself,” she said.

“Mind your own fucking business,” she said as they saw a stack of several corpses in a flooded hole in the ground.

“Shit,” said Megan, “gross!”

“Strange. These bodies weren’t shot or beaten,” said Yun. “That’s… my boss’s usual MO.”

“Pretty common MO if you ask me,” said Megan, adding as she squinted suspiciously at Yun, “not to mention that I didn’t think prostitutes would know much about what the acronym ‘MO’ means.”

“Well… aside from the fact that we have our own jargon for our line of work, like I said, I’m not just a prostitute anymore. I’ve been hired to be a spy.”

“By whom?”

“Again, I will not say.”

“You’re not going to be able to keep your secrets for much longer, Yun,” said Megan. Sighing out of frustration, she added, “Right. Anyway, let’s keep moving—”

As they heard more and more screaming and gunshots nearby, the stench also got worse. But it wasn’t the usual stench of the dead. 

As they entered the rooms of the buildings containing the various pods stacked on top of each other that families slept in, Megan could see corpses scattered within and nearby the pods. The same went for the bathrooms, kitchen and dining facilities, lounges, and working areas.

They heard a hissing sound in the air.

“Dear God,” said Megan, shivering as she looked at a baby lying dead in its crib with its eyes looking upward even in death. “This baby looked like she was choked to death. If your boss is working for the Architects, then the Architects are no saviors of the 99 percent…” Megan then said, “You’re right. None of these bodies show any signs of physical wounds. No bullet holes, no bruises, no lacerations, no broken bones. How were they killed?” 

The hissing was getting louder.

 _Oh no… not good,_ thought Yun.

“Unless…” Megan began to cough. “…shit…”

“Poison!” yelled Yun. “Megan, do you have a gas mask?”

But it was too late. Megan was starting to choke to death.

As Megan began to collapse onto the dirt-covered floor, Yun desperately searched through Megan’s kit and found a gas mask.

 _Shit, there’s no spares!_ Thought Yun. _Ah, forget it._

Yun put the mask on Megan’s face, strapped the oxygen tank to her back, and began to heal her using the healing nanites in her arms. Megan coughed out the poison and the nanites managed to dissolve it before it dissolved into her blood.

Breathing heavily, Megan said deliriously, “you’re…”

 _This poison could’ve killed her,_ Yun thought before she heard Chinese voices yelling from upstairs in the building.

“Come on, soldier, get up!” Yun yelled as she hoisted Megan up with her arm and locked her right shoulder with Megan’s left.

As she held out her left arm and hand in the direction she was walking while carrying Megan, Megan said to her as her voice grew stronger, “you’re… you’re a…”

As some terrorists came down the stairs, one of them yelled in Chinese, “two intruders! Call for backup—”

Yun shot them through the necks with the infrared cannon built into her left arm and hand before they could. Their bodies fell to the ground as they choked on their own blood.

“You’re a… a Ripper…” said Megan.

“I know!” said Yun. “We’ll discuss it later; my orders are to protect you. We have to get you out of this killzone!” Yun looked up the staircase, and used her left arm cannon to fire a grappling wire up to the top of it. Yun grappled upward while holding Megan’s entire body up with one arm as if doing so was easy.

Architects approached from corridors leading from the north toward the crumbling staircase corridor. 

Yun grappled upward to scout out the terrorists. There were dozens of them approaching from multiple floors.

She shouted, “Megan, I need you to help me fight! I am out of arms!”

But Megan was still too weak to.

“Damn it!” yelled Yun as she swung back and forth to throw Megan to a safe spot on the south side of the stairway behind a broken wall. Megan grunted as she landed. Yun then spun around, and started firing her right arm’s laser cannon at the terrorists approaching with rapid fire at the equivalent speed of the average light machine gun, and deadly accuracy, ascending and descending appropriately to cull the herd of terrorists approaching them from the north, and soon the east and west as well. 

Soon the Architects were approaching too fast for her to cover Megan and keep up with the rest of them in combat despite her augmented reflexes and movement speed.

Guards were approaching from the south now. “No!” yelled Yun as she was starting to get shot by the terrorists, revealing her UltraAlloy endoskeleton underneath her skin.

Megan then started shooting from above with her M4 suppressed assault rifle and underbarrel Masterkey shotgun attachment. Her aim and speed were both almost as good as Yun’s.

Together they managed to finish off the last round of terrorists, with Megan crouching behind the destroyed wall when needed. But not before a terrorist on the first floor chucked a Semtex explosive charge to the ceiling and it stuck. 

Yun shot the terrorist dead. Looking at Megan, who was killing the last of the terrorists below, she yelled to her, “Megan! Grab my arm! That’s a dead end! We have to get out of this stairway, they’re about to collapse the roof on top of us!”

Megan nodded, and leapt toward Yun, who grabbed her and threw her to the north hallway after swinging her toward it.

The Semtex charge detonated seconds before Yun could jump to meet Megan; the blast knocked her down two floors beneath Megan, it was a miracle she hadn’t been buried by debris.

“Megan!” Yun looked above her, and heard the building start to collapse as more explosives went off. Yun sent some nanites through the cracks in the walls to look for Megan as she started to run out of the collapsing building. As several corridors caved in, Yun saw ahead a huge room full of pods with civilians in them; they were still alive.

But there were terrorists running towards them.

Yun started accelerating toward them with her jets, also using her jets to leap over a massive pile of debris, slide under a collapsing chunk of ceiling before it crushed her, and wallrun over a massive gap in the floor, shooting the terrorists while she ran along the wall. The terrorists turned around and started shooting her with their AK-47s. Despite that several bullets pierced Yun’s flesh and made dents in her endoskeleton, she kept running along the wall without flinching or relenting with her laser cannon fire. She tried to make a massive leap across the rest of the increasing gap due to the floor collapsing beneath her, but failed to do so due to how low the ceiling was. 

So, she quickly grabbed the ceiling with her adhesive grip, fired at the remaining terrorists with her other arm, then used her grappling line to yank herself off the ceiling and toward the fourth-last terrorist, knocking him into the side of the corridor on the other side of the gap. She then kicked the third-last through the wall next to her, then pulled the second-last terrorist behind her over her after grabbing him by the mouth, slammed him to the ground, and stomped on his skull, crushing it.

A final terrorist wearing heavy armor and carrying a large pipe from the wall smashed it into the back of Yun’s head, only for the pipe to break in half and barely leave a dent in her skull’s armor mesh layers. Yun grabbed the other half of the broken pipe and stabbed the terrorist in the chest through his armor with it. She pushed the pipe out the other side of his torso. Furious, the brute tried to punch her with his brass knuckles; Yun broke the terrorist’s arm, and grabbed the terrorist by the helmet and blasted it in half with her cannon built into in the same hand. The terrorist staggered backward and fell to the ground, the gape in his forehead leaking blood all over the dirt-covered floor.

Yun went over to the families and people trapped in the pod room. “Is anyone still alive hurt?” she said.

“Some of us, yes,” said a teenage girl. “They also kidnapped my parents; if I hadn’t played dead, I think I might’ve…” She then looked at Yun, astonished. “Yun?”

“No, I… _Mia?_ ” Yun found herself unable to lie. “Yes… it’s me.”

“What happened to you?” she said. Panicking, the girl Yun used to babysit said, “You look like… a robot. You’re not human anymore. What did those bastards do to you?”

“Mia, listen to me—”

“Are they going to do what they did to you to my parents?” Mia screamed.

“No, they’re not. Because the Architects didn’t do this to me,” she said. 

“…Architects? Bruce works for the Architects?”

“Bruce. Bruce Gamble?” All of a sudden, Yun’s memories were coming back. Her real memories, from before she was augmented… but then again, were they even hers?

“That fucker. He’s the trafficker,” she said.

“Of course he is! This town is one of his hubs! He’s responsible for all of our suffering!” said Mia. “What the hell happened to you, Yun? You were gone for months! And… and…”

“I’m sorry, Yun. I had no choice but to sell my body, just not in the way the other girls did. I wanted to make a better life for my family.”

“…your family…” Mia looked down. “The Architects killed them a few minutes ago.”

For a moment, Yun froze. To her, time was beginning to slow to a crawl.

“Yun!” yelled Megan. “We have to get out of here, the building’s gonna collapse!”

“Who are you?” said Mia.

“I’m a friend of Yun’s,” Megan bluffed, “and we killed the Architects but there’s poison leaking into what little of this building hasn’t collapsed. We have to get you all out of here!”

“The poison…” said Mia. 

“You know about it?” 

Mia said nothing, she began to tremble. She clenched her fists. “Why were you standing there the whole time if the building was collapsing and filled with poison? Why didn’t you warn us?”

“We’ll all explain to each other what the hell’s going on once we’re out of this building. Especially you,” Megan said, pointing to Yun. “Now, everyone follow me out!” yelled Megan.

The survivors all barely managed to escape the building intact.

As Megan caught her breath, she put a hand to her ear, and called Daniel. “Daniel, Griggs, do you copy? Daniel! Griggs!”

… … … … …

Daniel and Grigori were moving through the slums, avoiding or stealthily dispatching terrorists patrolling the town with their silenced assault rifles, also shooting the lights out to conceal themselves when necessary. When Daniel and Grigori arrived at the tavern, Daniel planted a breaching charge on the door, stacked up against the sides of the door, and Daniel blew the door open. They then entered the tavern and massacred the terrorists with their M4s before most of them could react; fortunately the tavern was a relatively open space.

The bartender picked up a shotgun and started firing at the two of them along with a few survivors carrying small firearms. Daniel and Grigori kicked over a table and hid behind it, using blind-fire to kill the survivors. The bartender loaded some Dragon’s Breath rounds into his shotgun and tried to burn them out of their hiding place since the shotgun’s spread wouldn’t penetrate the table’s wood from the distance between them. Daniel and Grigori shot the man in the shoulder, causing the man to misfire and set a jar full of alcohol alight.

Grigori grabbed the bartending trafficking lieutenant and pulled him over the table of the destroyed bar, then punched him hard in the face.

Daniel said, “Start talking.”

“I can’t! The boss will kill me!”

Grigori said, “If you don’t talk, then I’ll kill you.”

Daniel said, “And once I reach Hell too, I’ll find you and kill you again.”

Grigori said, “We’ve both already been there. Trust me when I say it’s not a very nice place for traffickers like you to spend eternity.”

“Fuck, all right!” yelled the man. “My boss, his name is Bruce Gamble! I last saw him at his penthouse. He was cleaning house there, getting rid of loose ends! Paper copies, hard drives… people!”

“What’s he trying to hide?” said Daniel.

“I don’t know. He’s a very secretive man; likes to keep things compartmentalized. But whatever it is, it’s big. Bigger than me, bigger than you, bigger than everyone on Earth. Something he called ‘World Six Meltdown.’”

“Is that all you know?” said Grigori.

“Yes, I swear! I have nothing else to tell you!”

“Good,” said Daniel. “In that case, this is for Caitlin.” Daniel pulled out his M1911 and shot the bartender in the head.

“When did you decide that you get to the be the one who shoots him?” said Grigori.

“Does it matter?” said Daniel.

“I at least wanted to see if I could score a drink from him,” said Grigori.

“We’ll get you something to drink once this whole bloody thing’s over,” said Daniel. “Let’s get out of this building before we burn to death.”

Twenty minutes later, after avoiding attention while sneaking through the slums again, Daniel and Grigori had arrived at the building that they could tell the penthouse was in: a decadent hotel in the center of the slums. 

There were guards patrolling the hotel’s entire perimeter, and they didn’t have the patience to go in slowly; the more time they took to approach the penthouse, the more house cleaning the trafficker, Bruce Gamble, would be able to do.

“We’re still wearing the Architects uniforms,” said Daniel. 

“They’re covered in blood, though,” said Grigori.

Daniel scouted the front entrance with his binoculars, and grinned. “The two Architects standing at the front gates are Caucasian. They must’ve taken their masks off because of the heat.” 

“Frankly, I want to do the same thing,” said Grigori.

Scanning closer to their faces, Daniel said, “They look like buddies of yours. Russian buddies. You thinking what I’m thinking?”

“No.”

Rolling his eyes, Daniel said, “Follow my lead.”

Daniel and Grigori approached the front entrance, with Daniel grabbing Grigori while Grigori faked a groan and pretended to limp.

“Soldiers! What happened! Explain yourselves!” said one of the guards in Russian.

Grigori groaned and spoke in Russian while pressing his hand against one of the bloodstains on his uniform’s torso. “Tavern… attacked by a Brit and an American. We are only survivors. I need medical attention for my leg; they also nearly shot me in heart.”

“Where are they now?” said the guards.

“Last we checked, the tavern, _mudak,_ ” said Daniel in Russian. “Now let us through.”

The guard warned them, “Avoid the penthouse and the back door if you want to avoid more injuries.”

Daniel nodded, and they passed through the checkpoint.

Grigori murmured to Daniel in English, “I didn’t know you could speak Russian.”

“A little bit, comrade,” Daniel said in Russian as they approached the side door and Daniel ripped the plywood off of it with a crowbar in his kit.

As they entered the hotel, Daniel told Grigori to wait right after he let go of him.

“What—”

“Shh… Don’t make a sound.” Daniel whispered. Looking around, he said quietly, “Do you see them?”

Grigori nodded. 

There were sensors of some kind… linked to mines. They were either sound or motion-based, but were too small for either of them, even at that distance, to be able to read the labels on them.

“Now I see why he said to avoid the back door,” whispered Grigori.

“I don’t like this at all. Let’s move carefully.”

They turned on their augmented vision goggles to spot the mines, and navigated carefully around the mines from one side of the main floor to the other.

“Hold up. Tripwires linked to mines ahead,” whispered Daniel.

“I see them. They’re actual wires, not lasers,” said Grigori.

“Of course, lasers are more expensive and in shorter supply,” said Daniel. “We’re going to have to crawl under.” They crawled under the tripwire as slowly and quietly as possible. 

After they made it out the other side, they got up and walked slowly toward the elevator until they were in the clear.

Wiping their foreheads, they rode the elevator up to the penthouse floor.

Daniel grabbed Grigori and Grigori pretended to be wounded again.

Grigori said to the two terrorists guarding the doors to the penthouse foyer as they approached them, “I need help. A British spy shot me in the heart.”

The terrorists said, “You should not be up here.”

Grigori said, “Please.”

“Stay back!” said the terrorists as they grabbed their guns.

But it was too late, as Grigori and Daniel and reached them, and Grigori got up to knock the rifle out of the first terrorist’s hands and stab him in the heart. Daniel slammed his head into the second one’s head, then grabbed his AK, bashed him in the head with it again, knocking him to the floor. Before the terrorist could reach for his knife, Daniel put his boot on the man’s neck and shot him in the head with his M1911.

Daniel slowly pushed one of the penthouse doors open, but stopped abruptly and said, “Shit… a tripwire linked to another mine… right in front of the door.”

“You able to disarm this one?” said Grigori.

“Maybe. Chris taught me a few tricks back in the days. It’s risky, but it’s our only way in.”

Daniel reached in through the door opening, and cut the green wire and then yellow wire within the mine’s payload to disarm it. Breathing in and out heavily, he then pulled at the tripwire a little to test it.

“Should’ve detonated by now,” said Daniel. “Thank god. Let’s go.”

The two soldiers entered the penthouse, which was empty save for scattered papers, destroyed computers, furniture which had been shot up, and corpses lined up in a row, mostly dead prostitutes and drug mules.

“Bugger. This place is empty,” said Daniel.

“Bugger’s right,” said Grigori. “We went through all of that just to enter an empty room.”

“There must be something more here,” said Daniel. He looked at some shredded documents.

Grigori said, “I’ll look for salvageable hard drives.”

“You do that, mate. I’ll search the corpses.”

Grigori said, “I found a live hard drive.”

Daniel was searching the bodies while avoiding thinking about the smell when he heard someone crying; the sound was coming from the bedroom.

Heading to the bedroom, Daniel said, “I found a live human, Griggs. Get in here.”

“Rog’, Danny,” said Grigori as he walked in. “What the hell…”

A woman was tied to the bed with a gag in her mouth, wearing nothing but a bra and underwear. Upon seeing them, she tried to scream and break free of the bonds, but it was muffled.

Daniel told the girl while putting his hands up, “It’s okay, lass. We’re here to get you outta here.”

Daniel took the gag out of her mouth, and asked, “Can you speak?”

Her face extremely red, the woman muttered deliriously, “G- g- ge—”

“Guess not,” said Daniel.

Grigori looked at the bloodstains on the bed, along with the scars on the girl’s body. “Who would do this to an innocent girl.”

“Shit like this happens all the time, Griggs. There’s a lot of bastards in the world, you know that,” Daniel said before he looked at the girl and said, “she ain’t so innocent anymore, though.”

Frowning, Grigori said, “That sounds like something I’d say. And your timing sucks.”

Daniel said, “Not what I mean. Look, she’s been C-sectioned, but the shape’s irregular.”

“G- g- ge- get…”

“What do you mean?”

“I’ve seen plenty of C-sections before, and this one is irregular,” said Daniel.

“What? How is it irregular?”

“G- ge- get- get… get it…”

“Probably a more important question at the moment’s why. What are you trying to say, lass?” said Daniel.

“Get… get it… _get it out!_ ” the girl screamed before starting to break down crying and hyperventilate.

“What? Get what out?” Then Daniel looked at the girl’s stomach as a bright LED light lit up inside of it.

“Daniel, GET DOWN!” yelled Griggs as the light combined with a beeping noise, and he tackled Daniel to the ground seconds before the bomb went off.

As they recovered from the initial shock of the blast, Grigori and Daniel coughed out dust and smoke as it filled the room along with fire.

“Son of a bitch…” said Daniel; he looked Griggs way, and saw Griggs panting on his hands and knees, trying to get up. “Griggs? Griggs!” Griggs said nothing, breathing heavily. “You aren’t actually wounded this time, are you?”

“I can barely breathe…” said Grigori.

“Come on, Griggs, get up!” yelled Daniel. “This was a trap! If we don’t leave now, chances are you’ll never smoke again!”

Swearing in Russian, Grigori stumbled to his feet and they got out of the penthouse. Daniel pried open the jammed elevator doors with his crowbar, and they slid down the elevator shaft via the elevator cables. Beneath them, the mines had exploded, and above them, the ceiling had gone up in flames. All around them, they could hear terrorists shooting at the building.

“This is bloody insane!” screamed Daniel.

Megan was trying to contact them on comms, but they didn’t hear them due to the explosions ringing in their ears. 

“Daniel, Griggs, do you copy? Daniel! Griggs!”

… … … … …

**Transcendence Manufacturing Facility, Guangzhou, China**

Jack landed on the Transcendence rooftops and dispatched the snipers on the rooftops with some brief bursts of silent laser cannon fire. 

_They were too busy looking down at the entrances to see me coming at them from above,_ she said. _Good. I’ve done this before._

Jack entered an air vent after burning open the hatch with a continuous but smaller, more concentrated laser blast. 

After navigating through the air vents, she entered a massive vertical ventilation shaft, guarded by laser tripwires she could see with her enhanced vision.

She managed to climb down the shaft by descending her grappling line after firing it at the shaft’s ceiling.

The laser tripwires danced around her. After using her BISECT’s 3-D GPS module to orient herself, she saw that a viable path through the ventilation shafts into the warehouse area was right beneath her. Looking around, she reached a position where she had to use her grapple line to swing through a hole within a moving wall of them, timing her movements so she wouldn’t trip them. She then quickly clung to the wall with the adhesive grips in her hands and feet, sticking her hands out in front of her so she wouldn’t damage the walls and potentially trip further alarm sensors.

Jack then climbed the side of the wall, waiting for the lasers to pass over her and then climbing past them before they descended far enough for the top of her head to break the infrared beams.

Jack then finally made it to the horizontal beam in the middle of the shaft, and walked on it while crouching and staring at the wall opposite of the beam with the air vent hatch. Managing to easily keep her balance, she timed her shot, waiting for the glowing invisible red lasers to pass, and then quickly burned the vent hatch off with her own lasers. Before the hatch ripped itself off of its final hinge due to the pull of gravity and tripped a laser, she carefully released her nanite swarms so they’d all move around the lasers, then made them coalesce around the hatch to catch it, essentially using the swarms as “utility fog” to hold and move the hatch from a distance. She safely placed it inside of the vent itself.

As Jack then jumped across the gap through the laser wall and boosted herself into the vent with her jets, she smiled, and thought, _the pseudoscience of telekinesis has nothing on my nanite swarms._

She was crawling through the ventilation shaft when the terrifying, vivid waking dream-esque visions in her mind came back again.

She was that Chinese prostitute again… only this time she was standing near the ruins of a pod housing complex in the slums, wanting to cry while standing over some corpses… and she was with Megan!

Actually, she was in two places at once. In one place she was with Megan in the prostitute’s body, and in the other, she was with Daniel and Grigori… _in a swarm of nanites!_

Megan took off a gas mask; her face was pale and white, and she looked like she was about to puke. She, the Chinese prostitute, was still standing in front of the corpses, shell-shocked. The sadness was her own; it was like she was an empath in a weird way. She could feel the woman’s pain with her without even knowing why it was there. It reminded her too much of how she felt initially when she learned Caitlin died. She had managed to bury the pain until now.

Daniel was carrying Grigori out of another burning building—correction, _exploding_ building— Grigori was coughing out smoke clouds as long as pencils; his face green. Daniel was trying to sneak out the back door of the collapsing building, only for Grigori’s coughing to alert nearby guards, which Daniel shot with his pistol. As the terrorists surrounded them, she heard Daniel turn on an SOS signal to alert Megan before he put his hands in the air and Grigori collapsed to the ground.

_Jesus Christ… they’re in serious trouble… is this actually happening? What the hell, why is this happening inside my head? Something is seriously wrong with my BISECT; I never programmed it to do anything remotely like this!_

Jack put her hand to her head. _It hurts too much! If this is actually happening, my team, my mentors, are about to die! I feel like I’m there mentally, but I can’t do anything physically!_

She pressed her hand tight against her mouth to keep herself from screaming out loud and giving her position away as she heard two Architects terrorists conversing beneath her from a partial opening in the air vent’s floor.

“You hear about the shit that went down in Macau?” said the first.

“You mean _is going_ down,” said the other. “Bruce’s guys managed to capture two Transcendence mercs with a trap, one British, one Russian. Bruce said he’s going to use the Fairy Dust on them to try and turn them. But apparently there’s also a third female merc that was spotted alongside a Ripper disguised as a Chinese prostitute. They still haven’t been found. Once they are found, though…”

“Wait… you said there was a Ripper among them.”

“Yeah. What about it?”

“I thought there was supposed to be only one human Ripper right now. The one Khaled’s obsessed about; he said she was the one who managed to ruin his attack on Hong Kong. As well as the one in Geneva. An American woman, named Jacqueline Newman. Apparently, she’s the one who _invented_ the Ripper.”

“So, she’s… Jacqueline… the Ripper? And she’s a scientist and not a mercenary? Sounds like a fairy tale to me. Don’t believe everything you hear, Rami. Not to mention that the attack on Hong Kong technically succeeded.”

“What do you mean?”

“The Chinese Ambassador was the real target, and he was killed. He was going to speak out about agreeing to allow the biotech firms based in China to work there. With the city in chaos due to the riots, Transcendence’s chance of setting up another site in Hong Kong is near zero now.”

“But won’t that mean they’ll have a stronger foothold in China now? Not to mention they’ll have access to all the rare earth elements China mines to put in their products without a hitch.”

“How the hell should I know?”

“I don’t know. It just seems counterproductive to me.”

“Do yourself a favor, Rami, and leave the geopolitics to Jasper and Khaled. They’re much better at managing it than you are.”

“Whatever. So, do you think there’s more than one functioning Ripper?”

“Look around at the actual factory we’re in and _then_ see if you want to ask me that. As for me, I wouldn’t doubt it in the slightest.”

Jack was shaking. _What happened in my head_ was _real! I was seeing involuntary through the eyes of another Ripper. My friends are going to die!_

She tried to calm herself down. _There’s nothing I can do but continue my mission. They may be my friends, but there are a ton of strangers in this factory that I have to save. Like Daniel said, I have to save as many people as I can, but I can’t save everyone. The lives of the many over the lives of the few…_

She then took her hand off her mouth, and tried to collect her thoughts as she began to crawl forward through the vent again.

 _They said Khaled’s obsessed with me. And Daniel was right back in Hong Kong; I should’ve saved the ambassador. That would’ve prevented all the death from the rioting in the long run. The hostages I rescued back then may be dead now too!_ Then she thought, _but why me? Why does Khaled care so much about me, of all people? Did he really take Hong Kong that personally? Also, maybe the Architects are being unintentionally counterproductive… after all, the attack on Geneva helped save Transcendence!_

But the biggest question she had was why there was another Ripper out there that she was sharing some of her thoughts with while taking some of the Ripper’s for herself. Could the Ripper be working for August? Or was it working with one of his clients?

Jack couldn’t tell which option was worse.

Jack hopped out of the ventilation shaft, and landed quietly onto a stack of large boxes on a wall overlooking the warehouse. She quickly shot the terrorists beneath her with her laser cannon’s long-range blasts. She used special auto-refraction and piercing heat laser cannon modifications to move her laser blasts around obstacles and pierce through them, respectively, in order to kill the enemies behind them. Soon the terrorists in the warehouse were all dealt with.

 _I need to find those hostages and fast,_ she thought.

She snuck through the office areas, taking advantage of her optical camouflage and the various hiding spots—desks, couches, cubicles, cabinets, walls— to avoid being seen by the labyrinth of patrolling terrorists and security cameras. She noticed that the security cameras had nearby machine gun turrets linked wirelessly to them.

 _That could be a good way to clear the place of terrorists,_ she thought.

She hacked the door lock to the nearby security center while no one was looking her way, and quietly opened the door.

A technician had hacked into the security systems of the facility. Jack snapped the technician’s neck from behind, and looked at the laptop he had brought with him and connected to the security hub computer.

 _Hmmm…_ thought Jack, _this technician uploaded malware into the servers of the facility. They’ve been fully taken over, and I can’t do a counter-hack from here without alerting the guards. Then they might execute the hostages. But I can try and analyze a sample of the virus from the technician’s computer in my BISECT’s malware container until I’m able to develop an antivirus. Then I just have to upload it to the main servers in the laboratories._

Jack hacked into the technician’s laptop and gleaned a sample of the virus. There was also information on something called ‘World Six Meltdown’ on the terrorist’s laptop, but the files were heavily encrypted, even for her… which was not good. _If the Architects have access to tech this good, God knows what they could do to computers worldwide right now for their cyberattacks… along with Rippers like me. Maybe they’re responsible for what’s happening to my mind now…_

Brushing that eerie thought aside, she gleaned the encrypted files from the device since she couldn’t hack her way through them.

Jack looked at the camera feeds on the skybridge connecting the warehouse and office buildings to the manufacturing center; there were security gates blocking the path through.

She’d have to take an alternate path then.

In the middle of the downpour, Jack climbed across the bottom of the skybridge using her adhesive grips, crawling along the skybridge floor and sticking to it like a spider. 

Jack tried not to move too fast, as she saw snipers training their rifles on the skybridge, scanning for intruders. Whenever the laser of one of the snipers’ rifles grew close to her, she became still. As she finally got past the last security gate, Jack climbed up onto the glass wall of the side of the skybridge and carved a hole in it with her laser cannon, then kicked the glass hole open and climbed back into the facility, drenched in rain.

As she snuck along the catwalks of the manufacturing facility, she looked at the assembly lines of the factory and saw for the first time how massive the transhuman revolution she started truly was.

_Judging by the sheer amount of Rippers being assembled here, and the amount of Ripper parts in the inventory… artificial skin, endoskeletal parts, BISECTs… it looks like August might’ve produced hundreds of thousands of Ripper bodies already, if not millions!_

Jack thought, _if August’s next marketing campaign is successful, this is going to be humanity’s future. To become Rippers._

Jack remembered what she said to August back in that bar in California. If humanity was going to replace their mortal bodies with Rippers, and upload their minds to the Rippers BISECTs, their consciousnesses would at least be intact. But if they were just _copies_ …

She pushed the thought out of her mind, as she didn’t want it to go any further.

Jack looked at the terrorists inspecting the assembly lines.

“Hey, look at what’s been assembled over here. These aren’t Rippers. These look more like… giant robot animals.”

“They’re called drones, dumbass.”

“What do you think they’re for?”

“Seriously? They’re being used for combat purposes, that much is obvious.”

“I sure hope I don’t have to go up against one of those things…”

“If we do our jobs right, you won’t have to, and neither will anyone.”

Jacqueline wondered if she could hack into some of the drones that were fully assembled. She scanned the drones from afar with her augmented vision, and found that they were all connected via a hivemind to the facility’s central server. Fortunately, the terrorists hadn’t figured out how to activate them… yet.

She continued through across the catwalks and climbed through the mess of pillars and pipes in the ceiling until she was able to find a way through to an air vent leading up to another roof.

Looking at the gap between the manufacturing buildings and the laboratory building, Jack aimed her grappling line at the laboratory building’s wall using her augmented vision, and fired it. She then attached the line to a pipe on the roof she was currently on, and used her grappling line like a zipline. She slid down the zipline between buildings until she made it to the wall, detached from the zipline, and attached to the wall with her adhesive grips. She then used a grapple line to wallrun across the side of the lab building until she built up enough momentum to leap across a gap and land on top of another skybridge, crashing through the glass ceiling.

Jack proceeded to enter the laboratories.

There, she found less terrorists here, so she decided she’d take these ones out. For some reason, among the mess of Ripper parts, machinery, computers, loose papers all over the desks and floors, and other laboratory equipment scattered about, she saw that the Architects were firing their Kalashnikovs at the computers, shredding documents, and trashing the place.

 _Wait a minute…_ thought Jack, _they’re not looking for evidence of wrongdoing to expose to the world, they’re destroying it! Why would they want to do that?_

Jack shot the terrorists with another multi-directional laser blast set; her aim was so impressive that she managed to snap her focus toward all of the terrorists in the room in a matter of seconds.

The terrorists all dropped dead in what almost seemed like a synchronized fall.

Jack came upon the next door locked with a keypad; she hacked it, and entered the server room.

Jack looked at the servers and started to access them remotely by holding up her hands to the keyboard and console; her eyes and veins then glowed blue as she transmitted the antivirus that she had finished developing using an app she wrote in her BISECT into the servers. The servers hummed to life, the lights on the large mainframes blinking and changing colors before her.

She accessed the monitors, and finished counter-hacking the base’s security system. That would give her enough time to reach the hostages, which she could now see on camera. They were being held in an observation deck above a laboratory two hallways down.

She then was able to go a step further and eavesdrop on the Architects using the security cameras. Two of them were talking near the hostages; the second, a Chinese lieutenant of Khaled’s, was holding a bruised and battered Victoria by the neck. Her hands were tied behind her back; her cries were audible.

“Rami? What the hell are you doing in this sector?”

“I was going to the factory buildings to investigate something I suspected about the Rippers when all hell broke loose. Our technician is dead; worse, the drones, the security systems, they were turned back against us! We’re being slaughtered in the other sectors and we have no idea who did this or how they managed to get in and do a counter-hack!”

“This is bad. Khaled will be very displeased. Fine. See those hostages over my shoulder? Go and activate the bomb.”

“What about the one you’re holding?”

“This one comes with me.”

“You’re not bailing on us, are you?”

“No, but we need at least one to ensure our safe passage out of the facility.”

“All right, sir.”

Victoria screamed as the lieutenant dragged her away.

 _I need to hurry!_ Jack thought. She rushed out of the server room and sprinted down the hallways, using her jets to accelerate again.

The five terrorists in the hallway toward the room with the hostages in them fired their rifles at her, but she used her jets to dodge their fire to the best of her ability. She fired several heavy laser blasts at them in sync, sending all five of them flying with a single shot per each of them.

Jack then killed the terrorist named Rami with a precision laser blast to the head, but not before he activated the bomb with a switch. 

Looking around frantically at the hostages, all of which were bound, blindfolded, and screaming under their gags, Jack saw the bomb strapped to the chest of one of the hostages. The bomb was going to go off in half a minute.

 _Should I try and defuse it?_ Jack thought. Jack briefly glanced at the other hostages—there were at least thirty others—and then the saw that there was a glass window overlooking the laboratories below the observation deck the hostages had been placed in. Jack decided if it came to it, she’d throw the man with the bomb strapped to him out the window and hope the blast wouldn’t be strong enough to hurt anyone up here. Her prior experience taught her that she couldn’t save everyone, but she had to save as many people as possible.

Yet she decided to try and defuse the bomb since she had the training to do so now thanks to Daniel and the others.

“Sir, I’m going to need you to stay as still as possible. I need to defuse this bomb.”

The man muttered something unintelligible under his gag in a panicked tone. The hostages were

Jack used a tiny laser in her palm to cut the two green wires in sync; this reduced the timer to under twenty seconds, then she cut the two yellow wires in sync; this reduced the timer to six. The increased frequency of the bomb’s beeping noise it made after the timer reached five seconds made the hostages start to cry out under the gags in terror. The man with the bomb on his chest was starting to squirm and scream.

_Damn it, there’s six red wires and I need to cut the right two!_

“Stay still, sir!” Jack shouted and grabbed the man to keep him under control.

Knowing in a split-second that she either had to defuse the bomb or throw the man over, Jack quickly activated her augmented vision to detect the electric current levels running through the individual wires, then cut the two with the correct levels with under a second left. The bomb shut off.

Jack looked forward, unable to shut her eyes, but still in disbelief that she was still okay. If her body still had a pulse from a real heart instead of a set of solar energy cores, she would’ve finally noticed it racing like crazy by now.

Jack took the blindfold off of the man’s eyes and the gag out of his mouth. “You’re okay. The bomb’s defused.”

The man breathed heavily and tried to calm down. “Thank you, soldier.”

“Here, let me cut this thing off of you,” Jack said as she used her lasers to cut through the locks on the bomb’s straps, which took a minute.

“You’re a Ripper?” said the man. “Listen, you don’t have time, they’ve got my wife, they’re taking her somewhere. I’m worried they’re going to kill her!”

 _He’s Victoria’s husband?_ Jack looked at the glass window for a moment to think of the horrible implications of what she had just considered doing to the man a minute ago. “They’re probably going to use Victoria as a bargaining chip for safe passage out of here,” said Jack.

“You’re right—wait a second, how do you know who she is?” The man then realized, “Holy shit… You’re Jacqueline, aren’t you?”

“I prefer Jack now.”

“Right, they called you Jack the Ripper on the news. I’m Stanley. Victoria told me a lot about you. You risked your own life even while just a scientist to save her and the other scientists back in the States. Please, you have to get her back.”

Jack said as she finished untying Stanley, “As much as I want to, my objective is to get as many of you out of here alive as possible. But if I can, I’ll get her out too.”

Stanley pressed his hands to his head. “This is a nightmare!”

Jack said, “Help me untie the others, quickly! I can get to Victoria faster that way!”

“Okay,” said Stanley, who wiped his forehead with his lab coat’s sleeve and breathed deep. “How are you going to get us out of here?”

“I hacked into some drones earlier,” Jack said in the middle of untying several of the other hostages. “I can slave them to my BISECT and control them remotely so they escort you up to the roof in one piece.”

“Why the roof?”

“According to reconnaissance, the front door’s been armed with a field of proximity mines.”

“Damn it.”

“It’s all right, I’ll call in a company plane to get you all out of here. In the meantime, I can try to multitask and go after Victoria.”

“You can do all of that at once?”

“I am a Ripper.”

“All right,” said Stanley.

As Jack headed for the door, Stanley said, “Jack?”

Jack turned around.

“Thank you. You really have managed to become a soldier.”

Jack nodded at him, smiling just slightly, then headed out due to the urgent task of saving Victoria while she began tapping into the drones’ hivemind and Stanley untied the last of the other hostages.

**Slum Neighborhood, Near Macau, China**

Megan and Yun were on another rooftop, looking down toward where Daniel and Grigori were being kept captive by the Architects; Megan was using her augmented vision Binoculars to conduct surveillance, whereas Yun was using her artificial eyes’ built-in augmented vision and extended sight range to do the same.

“Thank you for getting my friends out of the slums safely,” said Yun.

“And thank you for getting my friends captured, Ripper,” said Megan.

“I know you’re upset,” said Yun. “I will make it up to you. We will get them back, then we will go after Bruce.”

“From the conversation you had with that little girl back there, it sounded like you know Bruce, but not that he’s an Architect. Meaning that you lied to us about him being your pimp.”

“I was bluffing,” said Yun. “My orders were to lead you and the others to find and apprehend the mercenary supplier working for the Architects while helping you with and protecting you during your own mission to do so. I failed at doing both, and for what it’s worth, I’m sorry.”

Megan said, “Who is this Bruce guy, anyway?”

Yun said, “Down there,” pointing to the Chinese man standing over Daniel and Grigori. “He was my biological father, but I do not consider him as one. He tormented my mother and sisters and I for years. I barely managed to make it out of this place in one piece. Now he just killed them and my stepfather before I could make a better life for us; to him, we were merely collateral damage. Not even people.” 

Megan said, “We need him alive.”

Grimacing, Yun said, “Then make sure that he suffers for everything he’s done.”

“I plan to,” Megan said. “But first, tell me who you’re working for. Since you and Bruce are related, that alone is enough for who I’m working for to put you under serious scrutiny.”

Before Yun could respond, Megan’s communicator went off.

It was Bruce.

“Megan. Your name is Megan, yes? Your British and Russian friend are choosing to stay silent right now. For the most part. However, when I asked them something along the lines of, “where is your Swiss friend?” the Russian one said something along the lines of, “if you lay a hand on Megan, I’ll fucking kill you, _cyka_.”

Megan grimaced.

“Don’t answer him, Megan!” whispered Yun.

Ignoring them, Megan shouted to him on her communicator, “I’m not Swiss, I’m an _American!_ ”

“Sure you are, Megan… or should I say, Candide,” Bruce said while laughing. “I sure miss back when you were part of _Alqua’s_ ranks, even if you were a double agent. I almost thought you might have been fighting on the right side of history. Good times.”

Megan said coldly, “Then I guess that means _Alqua’s_ remnants eventually decided to go work for the Architects. Thanks for the intel.”

“I wonder how old little Marie would’ve been by now. Probably in her early twenties, no. Enough to suck dick like the rest of my girls. Who knows? Maybe she still is alive, sucking dick somewhere for one of my clients.”

“Fuck you,” said Megan, shaking out of pure rage. “I saw her corpse. You and your bastard friends slit her throat in her crib!”

Yun could see Bruce’s grinning from here as he spoke into the communicator he stole from Daniel and Grigori, “Maybe the body was a double, though? Did you ever consider that? Did you ever consider that somewhere, your daughter was suffering and you did nothing to help her?”

“I’m going to kill you…”

“No, you’re not,” said Bruce. “I’ll offer you a deal: I’ll let you and your two friends here live, and I will talk to Khaled so he has the Architects stand down with their attacks on America and Europe. So long as you all leave China. That goes along with your Ripper friend who’s in Guangzhou, rescuing hostages at your boss’s factory. In fact, it goes along with Transcendence in its entirety.”

Megan looked at Yun, who shook her head no.

“And if I say no?”

“Then we kill your two friends right here and now. Think about it, Megan… or Candide… whatever name you consider your real name to be now. Do you really think you can kill all of my men surrounding your two friends, even as two of them have their gun barrels pressed against the backs of their heads now? Even with Yun the Ripper to help you? Not to mention you’ll give your position away.”

“Shit…” said Megan away from her communicator.

Yun said, “We don’t have a choice, Megan. We’re going to have to shoot them, whether your friends live or not. You know he’s going to kill us if you go down there.”

“I will give you thirty seconds before my men hold down your friends and start cutting off their fingers. One finger per ten seconds after that. After that, we start working on their toes. And after that, we will cut out their eyes. Come down here and lay down your weapons.”

“Don’t listen to him, Megan!” yelled Daniel.

Megan wasn’t planning to. She quickly pulled out her sniper rifle attachment and pushed it into place on her M4 rifle’s underbarrel, and replaced a high-powered scope in place of its reflex sight.

“Get ready to fire, Yun,” said Megan. “We’re going to kill as many of these fuckers as we can, and we’re going to wound Bruce so he can’t run from us.”

Yun nodded, and readied her arms’ laser cannons for long-range fire.

Megan trained her rifle on Bruce’s leg.

“We’ll shoot in three seconds,” said Megan.

“All right.”

“You have five seconds!” shouted Bruce.

Megan held her breath to steady her aim.

“Four!”

Yun trained her cannons on the guards pointing their rifles at Daniel and Grigori.

“Three!”

Then their plan was interrupted as an incoming helicopter launched tear gas bombs down at Bruce’s army of mercenaries in the slums beneath them, incapacitating and distracting the majority of them.

“What in the actual hell—”

Bruce didn’t finish his statement before Megan’s first sniper round tore through his left kneecap. Yun’s first two laser cannon blasts decapitated the guards holding Daniel and Grigori at gunpoint.

The helicopter’s miniguns began to spin and spit massive amounts of rapid-fire rounds at the mercenaries below, killing most of them and giving Daniel and Grigori a chance to break free and join back in on the fight.

Yun said, “Whose helicopter is that?”

“I dunno,” said Megan, “but whoever is piloting it just saved our asses. Come on, keep firing!”

They continued to cull the mercenaries below until only Megan, Yun, Daniel, Grigori, and a wounded Bruce were left. 

As the helicopter began to touch down, Daniel and Grigori went to thank the pilots.

Megan walked toward Bruce, who was trying to crawl away with his good leg while his wounded leg was leaving a trail of blood on the floor. She stomped on his bad leg, and hit him hard in the back of the head before picking him up by his cheap, tacky-looking suit, and punching him in the face.

Daniel snickered as he said, “You’ve got to be kidding.”

“Tom, Marcus, my good CIA friends!” said Grigori. “You really do care after all.”

“You’re both a sight for sore eyes,” said Daniel.

“Sorry we’re late,” said Tom.

“We got here as fast as we could,” said Marcus.

“Good enough for me,” said Daniel. Turning toward Megan, Daniel said, “Meg, stop hitting that bastard in the face! We need him alive!”

Megan breathed heavily, and relented, gritting her teeth. Bruce’s face was a bloody, disfigured mess by now; he was barely conscious.

Violently slamming Bruce into the ground face-first, Megan said, “This asshole had better be worth it.”

At the brothel, Tom and Marcus set up a makeshift interrogation room and helped evacuate the remaining trafficking victims while Yun, Daniel, Megan, and Grigori interrogated Bruce with a battery and jumper cables while cuffing his hands above him to a hook hanging over a stained bathtub full of filthy brown water.

Megan said to Bruce, “What is World Six Meltdown?”

“I don’t know!” cried Bruce. “All I know is that it’s a terrorist attack Khaled has been planning for years. One like none other in history.”

“Where’s it being launched from?” said Megan. “Where’s Khaled at?”

“He’s going to kill me…” cried Bruce. “I’m already a dead man… We’re all going to die anyway…”

Megan turned toward Grigori and nodded; Grigori turned on the battery’s current again. Bruce howled and shook in his bonds, bouncing around on the hook in the bathtub as they zapped him for several seconds.

“I have never met Khaled in person! I only take his cash and provide my products to his middleman in exchange.” Panting, Bruce said, “I do not train the mercenaries I supply myself. They are merely cargo as well. Whoever trains them is also a weapons dealer. His name is Enrique Da Costa. His stronghold is in Rio de Janeiro. I send most of my cargo to him.”

Daniel said to Bruce, “We’re going to need more than your word to prove that’s true. Don’t want you leading us on a wild goose chase halfway across the planet.”

“My smartphone! It has a list of our transactions, along with information on the mercenaries I supply!”

Daniel and Megan looked at each other, then Yun, who was already scanning Bruce’s smartphone.

Yun said, “He’s telling the truth. It’s all on here. I also managed to trace the server containing the information using the various IP addresses it bounced off of; it’s in Brazil.”

Daniel looked at Yun, frowned, then looked back at Bruce. “All right, Bruce. I’ve got one more question for you. Do you know about any connections between the Architects and Providence or Transcendence?”

“What do you mean?”

“I’m asking if two or all three of said groups are working together.”

“Wait, what?” said Grigori.

“I am a human trafficker,” said Bruce. “I know nothing of this due to the massive amount of cargo I deal in. It is impossible to remember everyone’s names or their prior affiliations. All I know is that the reason I decided to work the Architects is because Transcendence and Providence are corrupt, and they and the rest of the global elites hoard all of the world’s money and resources while the rest of the world rots on the streets. I wanted to help make the world a better place.” 

“By trafficking and killing innocent women and children,” said Megan.

“The ends justify the means.”

“Like hell they do.”

Bruce smiled with broken teeth and a bruised and bleeding mouth as he said, “You’re working for them, aren’t you? You can justify your bosses’ worldviews to save your own fragile egos to your heart’s desire, but you’re only hurting yourselves in the long run. Transcendence and Providence did not create the Architects to promote their own agenda. _We_ created the Architects to fight back against them, and promote the greater good.”

Daniel frowned at this. “I think we’ve got enough to work with then.”

Megan looked to Yun, and nodded. Yun grabbed Bruce’s skull and slowly fried it using a thermal laser. Bruce screamed until he burned to death.

“It’s over. He’s finally dead,” Yun said. “I wish I could say I’m satisfied… but in reality, I just feel empty.”

“That’s what revenge is like for you,” said Daniel. “Now, would you mind telling us why you hid the truth that you’re a Ripper from us?”

Yun said, “All right. You wanted to know who I’m working for? I will tell you now. I’m working for the same company that you are working for.”

“You’re working for _August?_ ” said Daniel.

“Obviously,” said Yun. “He has only sold his patent to a select few clients as of yet. I was one of the initial people to volunteer to be a test subject for the Ripper patent once your friend, Jack, finished developing it. Looking back, I don’t regret it.”

“But why would August have you babysit us like this?” said Grigori.

“For starters, you needed the backup,” said Yun. “But I imagine August has other reasons he’s doing this. You’ll have to ask him; I’m afraid I don’t have all the answers.”

“Shit,” said Megan.

“Looks like we need to have a word with the boss,” said Daniel. “All right, Yun. I guess you’re not so bad after all. Sorry for judging you early on, and thanks for saving our arses.”

“It was my job,” said Yun, “and now I’m going to continue working for Transcendence by helping spy on the Architects and other enemies of the company.”

“Right,” said Daniel. “Well, good luck with that.”

“Make sure to call from time to time,” said Grigori.

Megan and Daniel looked at Grigori and put their hands to their heads. Yun smiled coyly at this.

On the hovercraft ride back to extraction, Megan said, “Many of the Architects used to work for _Alqua._ This isn’t just our mission anymore. This is personal.”

“Yeah, you’re right. I lost my old job, a lot of old friends, and nearly my life because of them. But we can’t let it get too personal,” said Daniel.

“That mission back there was insane,” said Grigori as he coughed violently, and reached with shaking hands for a cigaweed.

“Maybe you should take a break from those things, Griggs. You took a beating back there.”

“How else am I going to—” Grigori paused to make a loud, nasty cough, “—catch my breath?”

Daniel said, “Fine. It’s your health,” as he got on his communicator to call August.

“Daniel,” said August.

“Hey, boss,” said Daniel. “You mind telling us why you decided to send a Ripper prostitute to babysit us?”

“I don’t mind; in fact, I would like to apologize. I shouldn’t have kept you, Megan, and Grigori in the dark about this in retrospect. Now that the Rippers are being mass-produced, I started to augment some of the existing Transcendence PMC soldiers as well as other agents of the company in order to get the upper hand against other militaries… especially Providence’s. They’re the main reason I wanted to keep this a secret; my business partner, Lucas Rich, tends to be very nosy and I’m losing faith in him pretty fast.”

“I see,” said Daniel. “So, there’s more going on between you and your clients than meets the eye after all.”

“Unfortunately so,” said August. “But that’s not the only reason why I had Yun watch you. I was also collecting data on the three of you, not just your missions, but your combat abilities as well. Camille and several of the new scientists working at Transcendence believe that you three along with Jack would make an unstoppable squadron of Rippers.”

Megan, Daniel, and Grigori looked at each other.

“With all due respect, boss,” said Grigori, “I’m not ready to give up my humanity yet.”

“Neither are we,” said Megan.

“I understand that,” said August. “The transition from human to transhuman isn’t easy. Regardless, the transition may be inevitable. Put simply, I’ve been trying to prepare for a potential worst-case scenario where the Earth becomes so unsafe due to global climate change and lack of resources that it’s no longer safe for humanity to live on Earth without becoming Rippers. And if the Architects succeed with whatever they’re about to try and do—this ‘World Six Meltdown’ that I keep hearing about—a point may come where humans will have no choice but to become Rippers if they want to survive. I’m merely offering you a choice in your best interest.”

“Thanks, boss,” said Daniel, “but we’ll pass for now.”

“Of course, I understand. You never know though, by the time you change your mind it may already be too late,” said August. “Regardless, I have one favor to ask of you three. This one is mandatory.”

“It had better be reasonable,” said Megan.

“Keep this a secret from Jack,” said August. “I suspect that she isn’t ready to mentally process the ethical implications of what her invention means to the world and the transhuman revolution it’s starting to undergo. She’s brilliant, and a good person… maybe too good for this line of work.”

“Sounds reasonable enough to me,” said Megan.

“We’ll keep our mouths shut, Aug,” said Grigori.

“Good. I’m glad you three understand.”

“Speaking of which, how’s Jack doing on her mission?” said Daniel.

“From what I can tell?” said August. “She’s almost finished with it. And she’s done a great job so far.”

**Transcendence Manufacturing Facility, Guangzhou, China**

The terrorists were now on the run, trying to find a way to escape out of the facility after Jack managed to hack the mysterious animal-esque drones August had manufactured. Jack managed to escort the rest of the hostages out with the help of some drones to clear the way to the roof for them. Jack then also hacked back into her helicopter she piloted remotely to fly over the facility before doing the HALO jump. The rest of the hostages went to get on the helicopter.

Stanley said, “Is it safe to enter the air?”

“The flying drones will help escort and cover you by continuing to stop any terrorists from firing at you by laying suppressing fire on the ground.”

“And my wife?”

“I’ve tracked her via the security cameras to the shipping garage area… what few terrorists in the compound that are still alive are starting to try and regroup. They’re trying to leave with her in a truck.”

“Don’t let them get away with her!”

“I won’t,” said Jack as she had the helicopter lift off and placed it on a course for Silicon Valley per August’s orders while sending a convoy of drones after to protect them.

Jack then used her wings and legs’ jets to boost down from the rooftops and speed toward the shipping center.

By the time she got there, the drones that were controlled by the facility’s automated security system had already taken care of most of the terrorists left. She heard a terrorist who was bleeding out on the floor say in Chinese, “…damn it, these things are… unstoppable!” before a bullet from one of the nearby drones double-tapped him in the head.

Jack kept moving through the shipping center, keeping an eye on her immediate AO.

The six terrorists left were hiding behind cover across the room from the trucks.

“We’re never going to make it to the trucks!” said one in Chinese.

“They won’t fire at us if we have a hostage, though!” said the leader.

“Then why the hell did we only bring _one hostage?_ ”

The leader looked around, and said, “I’m afraid I don’t have an answer,” and ran toward the truck with Victoria in tow while leaving the other five terrorists to die.

Jack did an explosive laser blast that destroyed the shipping crates the five terrorists were hiding behind and sent them all flying to the ground. Before they could get up, the drones slaughtered them with heavy rapid-fire laser blasts of their own.

A terrorist whose torso was detached from his legs tried to grab Jack by the leg.

“Help…” the terrorist said as he tried to reach for a grenade and pull the pin.

Jack stepped on his arm, crushing it, and then killed him with a laser blast to the head. She then chucked the live grenade at the trucks, causing one of them to explode and cut off the leader escaping with Victoria.

Jack aimed her weapon at the terrorist leader, and said, “It’s over, hand her over.”

The terrorist leader laughed at Jack as he held Victoria and pointed his gun at her head while backing toward the next truck. “Do you think I’m an idiot, Ripper?”

Jack had no choice but to fire partially through Victoria to kill the terrorist. She shot through Victoria’s shoulder, and it wounded the terrorist’s shoulder as well, causing him to drop her and the gun. 

The wounded terrorist reached for the gun with his good arm, only for Jack to kick it away and then kick the terrorist hard in the jaw, knocking him to the floor. Jack picked the terrorist up by the back of the head, and punched him hard in the gut. The terrorist’s face turned blue.

“You’re bleeding out,” said Jack. “I can heal you if you tell me what World Six Meltdown is.”

“You can’t… stop it…” said the terrorist as he caught his breath. He tried to break free of Jack’s grip by grabbing Jack’s arm, but Jack’s grip was too firm. The terrorist screamed as Jack punched him so that her arm went all the way through his torso this time, then pulled it out, and hit him hard enough in the jaw to break it. She then dropped the terrorist and let him bleed to death on the floor.

Jack looked at the terrorist, and then back up at Victoria, who was trembling and clutching her shoulder while sitting on the ground and against the tire of a shipping truck.

“Victoria!” said Jack as she ran over to her. “I’m so sorry, Victoria…”

Jack tried to heal her with her healing nanites; her veins and eyes turned green as she did this. However, Victoria’s wounds had already been pretty bad before she had shot her, and her nanites were barely effective at this point. The terrorists beat her up pretty badly for some reason.

“Why did they do all of this to you, Victoria?”

Trembling, Victoria said nothing.

Carrying Victoria on her back, Jack said to August over her BISECT communicator, “August, it’s Jack. Your manufacturing facility is secure; the terrorists are dead, security is back online, and all of the hostages are safe… except for Victoria.”

“Good job, Jack. But what happened to Victoria?”

“The terrorists fucked her up pretty bad for some reason, which doesn’t make sense given they were going to use her as leverage to get out of here once things went south for them. Whatever their motives, I think they were going to kill her once they managed to escape.”

“Do we need to make her a Ripper for her to survive?”

“She’s not looking good. Augmentation surgery might be necessary.”

“Okay, I’m sending the company plane back so we can bring her to Geneva, Jack. You just wait there until it arrives for extraction.”

“All right,” said Jack. “Geneva sounds good.”

Victoria looked at Jack in horror. “NO!” she screamed, and grabbed Jack by her PMC uniform.

“Victoria, what’s wrong?”

“Please, take me somewhere else! _Anywhere_ but Geneva!”

“But your wounds are critical, Victoria,” said Jack. “My healing nanites aren’t doing any good, if you want to live you’re likely going to have to become a—”

“ _I’d rather die!_ ”

Victoria was hyperventilating.

“August, she’s going into shock. And she doesn’t want to be augmented. What do I do?”

“You may have to sedate her. Use her nanites to induce a coma,” said August, “That should stabilize her for the time being before her surgery.”

“But… she says she doesn’t want to be augmented…”

“She’s too far gone to make her own judgments, Jack. If I can see that through your vision, surely you can too,” said August. “Her husband will have to consent to it for her. The decision’s not yours to make. Besides, we’ve got a bigger situation that needs to be dealt with right now.”

Jack frowned. “All right,” she said. 

Looking at Victoria, Jack said, “I’m sorry,” and injected her nanites into Victoria’s skull to sedate her.

“No!” Victoria cried before she was knocked out cold.

Jack frowned as she picked Victoria’s unconscious body up in her arms.

Jack carried Victoria up to the roof of the facility and used her laser cannons as makeshift flares to signal to the local police that they were ready for them to enter and sweep the premises. She then waited for the company plane to arrive.

Onboard the Transcendence private plane, August called Jack again.

“You did the right thing, Jack.”

“It sure didn’t feel like it,” Jack said as she looked at Victoria, who was asleep and strapped down to a gurney.

“She’s not going to be the only one who will have to become a Ripper given the increasing body count the Architects are giving us. If we weren’t at war before, we definitely are now.”

Jack said, “August… I had another one of those weird nightmarish visions where I was that Chinese prostitute again… this one was even more vivid than before. This time Daniel, Grigori, and Megan were there too. They were in Macau like they said they’d be… The four of them were in serious trouble before the dream got cut off… I also overheard a terrorist confirming that they were about to be killed. If the dream was actually real, then does that mean I was inhabiting the body of this prostitute… Is she a Ripper too?”

“Are you sure?” said August, frowning. “Because Daniel, Megan, and Grigori are alive. They completed their mission.”

Jack was mostly relieved, but also very confused by this.

“Not 100 percent,” said Jack, “but I know I didn’t program my BISECT to do that. Something is seriously wrong, and if you know anything about it, I need to know what if I want to fix it.”

“I’m afraid I don’t,” said August. “Is there a way you can fix it yourself?”

“I don’t know. It’ll take time, and we seem to be running out of it.”

“All right,” said August. “Keep an eye on the issue. If it starts to get out of hand, let me know.”

“Okay,” said Jack.

August sighed. “Out of the original team of scientists that worked on the Ripper, you’re the only one left. Victoria’s critically wounded, and Aidan’s missing; he was likely kidnapped by the Architects.”

Jack said, “What about Camille?”

“Camille?” said August. “You didn’t hear the news? She killed herself. She couldn’t handle the trauma. The human psyche is a fragile thing.”

Jack said nothing.

“I know you weren’t necessarily close with your team, Jack, but…”

“But they were still my team,” said Jack, “and now they’re gone.”

“You’ll have time to grieve on the plane ride to your next mission,” said August. “In the meantime, I’ll tend to the hostages. Despite that the Ripper manufacturing facility was attacked and your team was killed, I’ve got more facilities and scientists dedicated to producing Rippers. Your work has ensured the survival of my company.”

“Wait a minute,” said Jack, “if you had more Ripper assembly factories, then why did you have me defend just one of them when I could be playing offense?”

“Long story short, Jack, there was a secret in particular that I didn’t want the Architects or the local authorities getting their hands on. It had to do with those drones you took control of,” said August. “I sent in another team from the PMC to lock the secret down in a secure vault. That, and I’ve always believed that every life we manage to save is worth something.”

“I see,” said Jack, “but from what I could see, the Architects weren’t looking for evidence of wrongdoing… they were destroying it.”

“What?” said August. “That doesn’t make any sense.”

“I know,” said Jack, “as it doesn’t line up with their agenda.”

“Those slippery bastards must be up to something… You’ll have to investigate their real motives when you get to Saudi Arabia.”

“Saudi Arabia? That’s where my next mission is?”

“You wanted to play offense, well now you’ve earned it,” said August. “I’m trusting you with taking down the Architects’ main sleeper cell.”

 _I’m going after their main sleeper cell?_ Jack thought. _Sounds dangerous._

“I’m patching Daniel and the others into comms,” said August. “They’ll explain what they’re able to based off of what they found in Macau.”

Daniel said, “Jack, it’s good to see you’re in one piece.”

Jack said, “I could say the same about you. To be honest, this mission was a lot easier than saving everyone in Geneva, mainly because I was able to stay stealthy for the most part.”

“That’s good,” said Daniel, “but don’t get too cocky. The three of us barely made it out of Macau intact, and we needed Tom and Marcus’s help just to do that.”

“Tom and Marcus?” Jack said. “The CIA agents?”

“So, you remember them,” said Megan.

“I have their profiles archived in my BISECT,” said Jack.

“Because of course you do,” said Grigori.

“Anyway, my point is that the Architects are escalating,” said Daniel. “They know we’re a threat to their operation now that we’re closing in on them.”

“Yeah,” said Jack, “I overheard a terrorist in Guangzhou say that Khaled is obsessed with me for some reason.”

“I wouldn’t be surprised,” said Daniel. “After Hong Kong, he must have studied up on you, and killed the majority of your team you worked on developing the Ripper patent with. You protected the one invention that might bring him down and brought it into the public’s eye. On top of that, you inhabited it. After Geneva, the public sees you as an embodiment of what the Ripper patent could do to help keep the peace. Chances are Khaled sees you as the embodiment of the revolution he’s trying to stop.”

Jack said, “I found something on a technician’s laptop. Something called ‘World Six Meltdown.’ But most of the other data I gleaned is encrypted, and I’m having trouble cracking the encryption myself. I need to find the key, because it’s too large of a key to use brute force on.”

“We heard about World Six Meltdown too,” said Megan.

“Apparently it’s a global terrorist attack of some kind,” said Grigori.

“Grigori, Daniel,” said August, “the hard drive you secured from the trafficker’s penthouse made note of a particular shipment of mercenaries and weapons. They came from a sleeper cell somewhere within the jungles of China, an abandoned rare earth elements mining facility used to help develop China’s transhuman arms race. It’s likely where the trafficker is storing his victims. They were shipped from there to Saudi Arabia, while the weapons were shipped from Rio De Janeiro. You three are going to Rio De Janeiro to investigate the weapons dealer the trafficker mentioned.”

“We’re not going to Saudi Arabia with Jack?” said Daniel.

“No,” said August, “Jack’s going to Saudi Arabia alone.”

“ _What?_ ” said Megan.

“With all due respect, boss,” said Daniel, “Jack ain’t ready to take on a task that big yet by herself.”

“Whether she is or not, we’re running out of time, and the entire Middle East is a massive warzone,” said August. “My PMC’s units have been deployed to protect the proxy nations allied with the west, but moving a group of mercenaries toward such an isolated location would look suspicious. According to schematics pulled from the hard drive, the Architects’ stronghold is dug deep into the side of the Sarawat Mountains, and is a highly fortified complex of tunnels. Jack will draw less attention going in by herself. 

Not to mention that the political situation there is volatile. Sarawat is situated near Mecca and Medina. Despite that most of the world isn’t nearly as big on religion as it used to be, if we commit an act of war on that area…”

“Right,” said Daniel, “all of the Middle East will cry for war against the West. They’d probably side even further with the Architects.”

“I need you three to continue your current mission: to follow up on the leads you found in Macau. We have to hit the Architects in multiple places at once.” 

“Aug, despite that your plan sounds good on paper,” said Megan, “and despite that Jack is good at what she does, she’d be a rookie going against an army of terrorists who want her dead. As field veterans, we’d recommend against sending her to Sarawat.”

“I don’t care,” said Jack. 

The others looked at her now.

“I’m going to Sarawat. That bastard Khaled has to pay for killing Caitlin and so many others. Plus, Khaled’s put a hit out on me in particular. I might as well bring the fight to his home.” She added, “Besides, I’m a Ripper. I can look after myself.”

“I put my trust in Jack,” said August. “I need the rest of you to put your trust in her as well.”

“Yes, sir,” said Daniel.

“Guess we’re heading to Brazil,” said Megan.

“I can’t wait,” said Grigori. “We haven’t been to Rio since we took down that drug cartel. Not to mention that the steak there is delicious.”

“Don’t get the munchies yet, Griggs,” said Daniel. “We’ve got a job to do.”

“Rog’,” said Grigori. “Good luck with your mission, Jack the Ripper.”

“Thanks, Grigori,” said Jack.

“Be careful, Jack,” said Megan. “Once this mission’s over, we’ll see you stateside.”

Daniel merely nodded, and Jack nodded in response as their hologram disappeared.

“I share the same sentiments as the others,” said August. “The world’s counting on you, Jack. Don’t let us down.”

“I don’t plan to,” said Jack as August’s hologram dissolved from her vision as well.

Jack looked at Victoria again, then stared out the window of the plane for a while.

… … … … …


	5. "ARCHITECTS"

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jack the Ripper goes on a dangerous mission alone to confront the Architects at their main sleeper cell in Saudi Arabia. There, she confronts Khaled and learns more about his motives. Megan, Grigori, and Daniel meet another contact in Rio de Janeiro to locate the weapons supplier that they learned was working with the human trafficker working for the Architects in Macau. Both parties find themselves in some deadly scenarios, racing against the clock to uncover the truth about the Architects' mysterious plans for their "World Six Meltdown" terrorist attack before it begins.

**MACHINA**

**BOOK 1: TRANSHUMANITY**

**TABLE OF CONTENTS**

ACT 1— “HUMAN”

Chapter 1— “Genesis” … Page 1

Chapter 2— “Rebirth” … Page 39

Chapter 3— “Transcendence” … Page 70

Chapter 4— “Manufactured” … Page 102

Chapter 5— “Architects” … Page 140

Chapter 6— “Meltdown” … Page 188

**Chapter 5— “Architects”**

**Architects’ Main Sleeper Cell, Sarawat Mountains, Saudi Arabia**

After an initial ride on motorcycle from a Transcendence safe house in Riyadh, Jack glided through the Arabian desert with her jets in the middle of a massive sandstorm until she reached Sarawat. 

The blinding orange sands and unfiltered sun would’ve burned her skin until it was bright red and peeling if she was still human. They didn’t; instead, they had an almost hypnotic effect on her. Her mind drifted as she traveled, and she started to think of Emrik and the brief time they spent together back in Geneva.

_I want to spend more time with him than I have so far. What if I don’t get the chance to? What if I die on a mission like this, out here alone in the middle of nowhere?_

She had always known the universe she was born into was huge, but ironically, out here of all places, she started to finally feel how small she truly was.

_And there are so many people like me who are less fortunate than I am,_ she thought. _I had hoped my invention would help them._

Jack then thought about the nightmarish visions she had in her BISECT. _I don’t think it was just a nightmare. A vision that vivid and accurate to something that’s happening in real life at the same time but in a different location, can’t be just a dream. I must’ve been sharing the consciousness of another Ripper. The consciousness seemed human from what I experienced when mine merged with it for a moment… at least as human as mine is now that I’m a Ripper._

She then thought on a tangent for a moment. _I was a little surprised at some of the different memories, thoughts, and perceptions inside that prostitute’s mind. It definitely opened my eyes to new ways of thinking… I may be smart when it comes to advanced STEM-related topics and skillsets, but when it came to street smarts and socializing, that woman seemed to know so much that I’ve always had trouble comprehending. I never really was good at talking to other people. She also clearly had a more traumatic life than I did; my life has been more sheltered than I realized._

This brought her thoughts full circle. _I have to help people like that, and bring down people who would cause them harm. I have to bring down the Architects._

Jack began to use her jets to accelerate fast enough to outpace a speeding car on the highway, and disappeared into the storm. The thick grains of sand flying through the air didn’t keep her artificial eyes from avoiding blinking and seeing through the superstorm.

She was a Ripper. She’d take Khaled down, here and now.

She was in the eye of the superstorm now. As her BISECT’s GPS indicated she was nearing the Architects’ base of operations, she used her augmented vision to survey the mountains in the distance through the massive walls of sand whirling through the air.

Concentrating her vision and zooming in, she spotted the Architects’ sleeper cell’s stronghold, an old fortress built into the side of the mountains near a river.

She continued gliding toward the mountains, and began climbing them with the adhesive grips built into her hands and feet once she reached a mountain wall.

As Jack neared the top of the mountain, the sandstorm winds began to grow more violent, eroding the rock wall it was climbing somewhat and leaving cracks in it. A set of helicopters on patrol flew by. She pressed herself against the rock wall before the wind from the incoming helicopters swept her off of it. She turned her skin’s optical camouflage cloak on, allowing her to turn invisible until the helicopter patrol passed. Then she managed to reach the top, and pulled herself up onto a level surface.

Jack scanned the perimeter with her augmented vision and saw the thermal signature of several proximity mines buried in the dirt around the stronghold. Looking closer toward the fortress, she made note of the electric fences with razor wire guarding the perimeter along with guard towers and various outposts. Guards in the towers had sniper rifles trained all over the minefield and beyond. She hit the deck, and slowly crawled around the mines, using the advantage of the sandstorm, her slow movement and overall low visibility due to lying prone on the floor to avoid detection. Eventually Jack came to the spot she had found while scanning where there was a gap in the razor wire on top of the fence. She located the nearby power box that controlled the electric fence; it was behind the fence on the wall of a building at a small nearby outpost.

Jack raised her right arm and hand up in the direction of the circuit box while charging up her arm cannons. The eyes and veins in her neck, right shoulder, arm, and hand, and the stigmata-esque fold on her palm began to glow the bright electronic blue that only she could see.

The power box started to emit static until it short-circuited, and the fence’s glowing blue light dimmed and its electric hum went silent. 

Less than two seconds after the fence’s power was fully off, Jack climbed up the fence and over the gap in the razor wire.

She then crept toward and hid behind the building on the edge of the outpost and peeked out from the corner. There were roughly a dozen terrorists toting Kalashnikov rifles, with pipe bombs and knives strapped to their belts. They were wearing black commando suits and masks with th Architects’ red insignia on it.

Jack used her augmented vision to scan the body of an isolated terrorist closest to her position; according to the sets of data output in its vision, the terrorist’s body was enough of a match to the size and shape of own body that she would be able to adjust the copy accordingly once she used the 3-Dimensional Analysis cameras in her eyes to create a disguise she could print onto her skin.

Jack quickly analyzed the terrorist with her eyes until the copy was complete, then quickly printed the disguise onto her body.

She looked at her Architects’ uniform; the details were incredibly precise, from the textures and layers of the clothing down to the various shapes and pigments of it.

_Good,_ Jack thought, _the Ripper’s built-in 3-D clothing printer works better than I expected. It’ll be essential to infiltrate a stronghold as dangerous as this._

The being then hid behind the wall again as another terrorist, this one likely the commanding officer of the outpost, came to talk to the isolated one. They spoke to each other in Arabic.

“The electric fence’s power is out. Go check it.”

“Yes, sir.”

Jack waited for the isolated guard to approach the box, then began to sneak up behind him. As the guard was muttering to himself in Arabic about how the box must be malfunctioning because of the sandstorm, Jack grabbed him by the head and snapped his neck before he could realize what happened.

Jack picked up the terrorist’s AK, then walked out into the middle of the outpost and quickly made memorized the positions, patrolling and scanning patterns of the guards at the outpost. Two of them were in sniper towers, two were on the roofs of the small buildings in the middle of the outpost, and five more were on the ground plus the commander. She checked the rifle she was holding to see if it was loaded.

A guard walked up to her, and said in Arabic, “Stop playing with your rifle, idiot! Did you fix the fence yet— wait a second… I don’t recognize you…”

As the terrorist studied Jack, she could tell by the look in his eyes through the holes in his mask that he was becoming suspicious.

“You’re a woman? We don’t have any female soldiers assigned to the outpost. State your purpose!”

_Time to improvise,_ Jack thought.

Jack bashed her AK into the terrorist’s forehead with an impressive amount of force and speed, crushing his skull instantly, before she fired her AK-47 at the other guards and began to massacre the outpost security detail. The guards screamed and the ones that weren’t instantly mowed down due to the element of surprise fired back at her.

Jack didn’t so much as flinch in response to their returning fire at it, even when she had been shot.

Soon, the remaining terrorists were all dead. The Architects’ corpses lie on the ground; the ones on the roofs and towers were either hanging from the edge or had fallen off.

The commanding officer was crawling toward Jack from behind, his shot leg and the stump where his arm had been leaving a trail of gore on the dirt he crawled across. He picked up his radio with his good arm and tried to call for backup; Jack turned around and grabbed him by the neck with one arm, holding him up above his feet.

While the terrorist’s face was turning blue and he made choking and gurgling noises as Jack was crushing his neck, he looked in horror through the rips in the uniform of whom he had previously perceived as his terrorist ally. Jack’s bullet wounds were bloody, but they were slowly healing before his eyes, along with her artificially generated uniform.

“You’re… a Ripper…” the terrorist said in Arabic before Jack punched straight through the man’s torso with her fist and then pulled it back out, leaving a hole in the man’s body. The terrorist’s eyes rolled to the back of his head before she dropped his body and left him to die on the ground.

Jack looked at the radio the man had dropped, and looked back at the corpses lying around the outpost. She found a journal within the commander’s uniform after looking through it with her augmented vision. 

The radio was buzzing; she picked it up.

A guard shouted over the radio in Arabic. “We heard a commotion coming from your outpost. What’s going on? Give us a status report.” 

While skimming the journal, Jack formed a plan. This time, she had practiced her accent. 

She said to the terrorist in Arabic, “You need to come down here, quickly. The men at this post have gone AWOL. I was sent here to investigate after they didn’t give their last status report.” 

The terrorist said, “Your voice… it sounds female. We don’t have many female guards at this sleeper cell that I know of, let alone within the Architects’ ranks in their entirety. State your name, rank, and callsign, soldier.”

Stating a name she found in the journal, she made a partial bluff. “Hafsa al-Najjar, Osiris. I’m a lieutenant assigned to an outpost on the southeast perimeter.

There was silence on the radio for a moment. The terrorist said, “That checks out.”

 _Thank God,_ Jack thought.

“We’ll send more guards to come join you in the search for the missing men.” “Good, I will let you know what I’ve found when you get here. Out.”

Jack looked around at the corpses of the terrorists scattered around the outpost again.

 _No time to waste,_ she thought.

Eventually a technical full of four more terrorists came to investigate the outpost. Jack was still in her disguise, and holding up her AK-47 that she had now restocked and reloaded the ammunition for. The dead bodies of the terrorists that had been guarding the outpost had been hidden in the mostly empty buildings at the center of the outpost.

One of the terrorists in the technical hopped out as the vehicle slowed to a halt, and barked at Jack in Arabic, “Lieutenant, according to the technician who told me of your status report, you said the men at this outpost have gone AWOL. Have you found them yet?”

“No sir; they seemed to have left without a trace.”

The terrorist looked around suspiciously. “I wouldn’t necessarily say that… I see their entrails on the ground. And the outpost reeks of gunpowder… among other odors.” The terrorists in the technical looked at each other out of confusion.

 _Shit; he can smell the stench of the dead,_ Jack thought. Playing it cool, she looked behind her, then back at the terrorist talking to her. “You think they were killed, sir?”

“Perhaps. I’m more concerned that there was no mention of it in your report,” the terrorist said while folding his arms.

“What are you implying?”

The terrorist frowned, “Do not talk to me like that. I outrank you; not to mention you’re a woman. You don’t belong in the field like this.”

 _Of course I don’t, prick,_ Jack thought sarcastically to herself.

“If you’re implying you think I killed them, then you’ll see that there’s no blood on my uniform. I just got here a few minutes ago, sir; that much was in my status report.” Those parts of her lie were true. “Anyway, once we’re done investigating here, I suggest that you take me to the stronghold so I can file a report on the missing men—"

“Your figure also doesn’t look like that of Hafsa’s,” said the terrorist. “I know Hafsa; her figure is a lot uglier.” The other terrorists snickered at that.

“Who are you, really?” said the terrorist standing in front of her; the terrorists in the technical had stopped snickering now.

Deciding to drop the act, Jack sighed, and said, “Jack the Ripper,” then proceeded to aim and fire at the terrorist’s forehead using her AK-47 with an impressive combination of precision and speed that the terrorist could not match; the terrorist fell over on his back as the bullet penetrated his skull. 

Jack then quickly slaughtered the other terrorists with a barrage of continuous fire before they could deal any considerable damage to her, holding her AK in her right hand and blasting them with rapid laser fire from her left arm’s cannon.

Jack then pushed their bodies out of the technical, got in the driver’s seat and commandeered the technical. She drove toward the center of the stronghold. 

She arrived at a set of gates guarding the front of the stronghold, along with another checkpoint of guards.

Jack drove up to a keypad lock that was next to the entrance gates and raised up her hand to them, pretending to type into the keypad as her veins glowed the invisible blue hue again. The lights on the lock turned from red to green along with the matching ones on the gate.

One of the terrorists gestured with his rifle to enter. Jack drove into the inner compound.

On her way to the center, Jack looked around at the sets of huts, tents, and small village buildings that had been occupied and filled with stashes of various sets of weapons, vehicles, supplies, and equipment. Hundreds of terrorists in uniform were inside the sleeper cell’s compound.

_I’m definitely outnumbered,_ Jack thought. _Best to stay stealthy._

Jack got out of the technical, and walked into a ruined area of the fortress, a palace that looked like it had been struck by a drone of some kind recently. She managed to sneak her way through the old fortress’s interior, walking past several sets of terrorists hanging out in the hallways. Walking down a set of sand-covered steps, she looked at a set of peculiar stainless steel blast doors guarded by a set of dual keypad locks— as well as another terrorist.

As she approached the blast doors, the terrorist said to her in Arabic, “This is a restricted area. Are you registered for access? Or are you injured and need to access the medical supplies?”

Jack bluffed, “I’m registered,” and the terrorist replied while scratching his head, “Strange… You’re a woman… There aren’t any women who are registered to enter this part of the compound, at least none that I know of.”

“I’m new here; I’ve been flown in from a sleeper cell in China. The rare earth elements mine,” Jack said, continuing her bluff.

“Huh. I’ve heard of that cell, and I doubt any of our enemies have yet…” The terrorist scratched the back of his head. “All right then. I will unlock the other side for you.” 

As the terrorist turned around, he then stopped. “Wait a minute… which commander do you work for here—”

Jack grabbed and pulled the terrorist’s head back with her hands and slammed her knee into the back of his neck, instantly paralyzing him. Then she smashed his head into the steel doors, splitting it open and leaving a massive bloodstain on the surfaces of the doors. She hid his body underneath the staircase.

She then stood in front of the steel doors and raised both of her palms to the dual locks. Her eyes glowed through the openings in her mask as the locks turned green and the steel blast doors slowly opened a few inches at a time.

Behind the blast doors was an elevator. Jack called the elevator by hitting the button next to the elevator doors, and entered the elevator as it arrived. She then hit the button within the large cargo elevator, and stood in the center of it as its doors shut and it descended deep into the mountain base until it arrived at its destination.

And when it did, Jack realized that the outer base was just a front for something else entirely.

**The Favelas, Rio De Janeiro, Brazil**

Daniel, Megan, and Grigori were navigating their way through the market area nearby the favelas, heading toward the meeting point where a Latino man in a grimy shirt with the name and number of a Brazilian soccer player on the back of it was waiting for them.

“Have you made contact with them yet?” said August to the man over his BISECT.

“They’re approaching me now, sir,” the man thought into his BISECT.

“Good. Let them find out the Architects’ plans organically. Letting them know through your own intel you’ve found is to be done only as a last resort.”

“Yes, sir,” thought the man to August seconds before the trio walked up to him.

“You happen to see a television around here so we can watch the World Cup match?” said Daniel.

“No,” said the man, “ _Juego al fútbol_ _con algunos idiotas,_ in an alley on the outskirts of town.”

“That checks out,” said Daniel. “August said your name was Bernardo. That right?”

“ _Sí,_ ” said Bernardo, “and you must be Daniel, Megan, and Grigori.”

“ _Da,_ ” said Grigori. “Important question before we get down to business… Do you really play football?”

“No,” Bernardo said, “but the idiots I was referring to in the decided passphrase are actually the members of the local gang ruling over the favelas that I’ve been working my way up through the ranks of.”

“So, you’re a deep cover agent,” said Megan.

“And another Ripper,” said Daniel.

“Yes,” said Bernardo. “Before I became one… I was actually a woman.” Bernardo glanced at Megan; they locked eyes for a split-second.

Then Daniel, Megan, and Grigori looked at each other for a moment.

_Maybe I shouldn’t have said that,_ Bernardo thought. _I assumed I could at least tell them that now that they know August is building an army of Rippers._

“Is… there something wrong with that?”

“No,” said Daniel. “That’s your choice, mate. This gang you’re talking about… do you know if they’re working for the Architects?”

“I haven’t found hard evidence of that yet,” Bernardo lied, “but I suspect so, and I’m close to a lead. It’s just that… with this ‘World Six Meltdown’… It’s not just all over the news, August was saying it’s about to happen… So, the timetables have changed. That’s why I need your help; this operation can’t wait any longer.”

“Right,” said Megan, “you want us to take down this gang now.”

“Exactly,” said Bernardo, “we need to get to the bottom of the leads on the weapons trafficker August briefed me about.”

“What’re your leads?” said Grigori.

“Well, for starters, the weapons dealer has been frequenting two places. There’s a gang stronghold not far from here up in the neighborhoods near the cliffs. Then there’s a clearing in the jungle a ways away from here that they’ve set up a glass dome at.”

“A biodome?” said Megan. “Why would they burn down part of the Amazon just to set up a sustainable facility to keep the local flora safe? Seems contradictory to me.”

“I was hoping you’d come with me to find out,” said Bernardo. “Your knowledge of environmental science should come in handy.”

The others raised their eyebrows at this.

“How did you know I majored in environmental science?” said Megan.

“I read your profile… all of your profiles, that is, for the sake of the mission.” said Bernardo. “I wanted to figure out whether or not I could trust you ahead of time.”

Nodding without changing her facial expression, Megan said, “Dan, Griggs, you two think you can take on the local gangs?”

Grigori said, “Only if you think you can take on the Amazon without getting mauled by a bear or stepping on a poisonous plant… or something.”

Rolling her eyes, Megan said, “For your information, Griggs, most species of bears aren’t native to South America, and the few that were are extinct now due to human consumption of the forest. That and global climate change.”

Grigori grinned. “Sounds like you’re the person for the job, Meg,” he said while reaching for a pack of cigaweeds.

Daniel said, “Be careful, Meg. It’ll take hours for us to search for you if you get wounded, captured, or worse.” Turning to Grigori, Daniel said to him, “Come on, Griggs. We’ll talk on the way out of the favelas.”

“Only if we can try some of the local delicacies on the way too,” said Grigori.

As Daniel and Grigori left, Bernardo said to Megan, “I have a boat stashed at a river a few klicks away from here. _Vamonos_.”

Megan nodded, and followed Bernardo.

… … … … …

Daniel and Grigori conversed while Grigori snacked on a churro as they traversed through the favelas, cutting through the tiny homes with walls made of plywood, sheet metal, and concrete that was painted a variety of different bright colors. Grigori made a set of several heavy, phlegm-filled coughs for several seconds, and almost slipped and dropped his churro in a pool of mud on the ground.

“What do you say we get some _carne asada_ after we take down the Architects?” said Grigori.

Ignoring Grigori, Daniel raised his hand to rub his 5’o clock shadow and pondered for a moment.

“What’re you thinking, Danny?”

“That Ripper, Bernardo… he knew Megan was an environmental science major. That must’ve been while she still went by her real name.”

“So?”

“ _We_ never knew that. And she outright admitted it now, of all times.”

“You think they’re interested in each other?” said Grigori.

“I wouldn’t jump to conclusions, but you never know,” said Daniel. “Meg’s been through a lot. I’m worried about her after how she reacted to Bruce’s taunts in Macau.”

“Eh, she’s a big girl, she can look after herself,” said Grigori.

“Come to think of it, she never said who Marie’s father was, either.”

“Why on Earth would she want to talk about anything that has to do with her dead kid?”

“It’s more that I’m wondering myself. I thought I knew her, and yet I’m finding out more and more that she’s a bloody enigma.”

“Well, we all have our secrets,” Grigori said, “and to give her credit, she was a former Swiss spy who managed to change her entire identity.”

“Yeah, and before that she was an _environmental science major_ ,” said Daniel. “She seems to still be passionate about that sort of thing. I suspect she’d be a damned good scientist, too.”

“So?”

“Hell of a transition, if you ask me.”

Grigori said, “So… say she is attracted to Bernardo… Given Bernardo used to be a woman, what letter of the alphabet does that make her? B for bisexual? Q for queer? T for transsexual? Or maybe P for pansexual? What about K for kinky? Come to think of it, since he’s a Ripper, maybe that means she’s… Ripper-sexual?”

Daniel turned around in Grigori’s direction while they were in the middle of walking, and said, “Griggs?”

“Yeah?”

“Shut the fuck up.”

“Roger,” said Grigori, as he smirked and lit another cigaweed. Inhaling and hacking up more smoke, Grigori said with a hoarse voice, “I never took you for much of a progressive, Danny.”

“Yeah, well… I suppose after I started to understand Jack better, I had a bit of a change of heart. Not to mention our job is to protect people, no matter how their mind works, what they believe, or who they choose to love.”

“Of course. You Americans… so short-sighted when it comes to identity politics,” Grigori joked.

“It definitely can’t be easy to be a minority when we’re living during the End Times,” said Daniel. “Trying to understand each other’s perspectives tends to come to a halt when everyone’s pissed off about the lack of cash in circulation.”

“Speaking of cash in circulation, maybe we should go back to discussing your theories about August and his deals with his ultra-rich clients. You gave hints about them when interrogating that _svoloch_ in Macau.”

“Yeah,” said Daniel. “Now that we know the Architects are the successors to _Alqua,_ I’m wondering if they might be false flag terrorists too.”

“Working for Providence, you mean.”

“Or at least they might’ve used to work for them. But given August is working with Providence… that complicates things.”

“No kidding,” Grigori said. “Something about this whole operation stinks even to me, and I hardly have a sense of smell anymore with all the smoke in my nostrils. You’re right, though; I never trusted Providence to begin with. I think they’re playing August, trying to pull a Bill Gates and steal his Ripper patent.”

“I’m having trouble figuring out who to trust at all,” said Daniel, “and I hate it. It doesn’t help that we’re being watched by a bunch of Rippers now.”

“Well, they are the future,” said Grigori. “You can thank our good friend Jack the Ripper for that.”

“Yeah,” said Daniel. “I hope she makes it out of Saudi Arabia in one piece.”

“Me too.”

They stopped talking for a moment. The crowd of locals in the favela was thinning a bit the further out they walked.

“Hey, Griggs, doesn’t that guy talking to those two drug dealers in the alley look familiar?”

Grigori looked into the alley between a set of brick buildings, and frowned. “Yeah, familiar as in from one of the pictures that prostitute sent us from the trafficker’s smartphone.”

Suddenly the man pulled out a Desert Eagle and shot the two drug dealers in the alley.

Daniel said, “Enrique’s number two. He’s making a run for it!”

They entered the alley to chase after him.

**Biodomes, The Amazon Rainforest, Brazil**

Megan and Bernardo were traversing a path in the jungle after mooring their boat to the side of the river they had taken to get there.

Finally deciding to break the silence, Megan said to Bernardo, “Why did you take an interest in my dossier in particular?”

“What makes you think I did?”

Folding her arms, Megan said, “I don’t like it when people waste my time by trying to lie about things that they know are already obvious.”

“You’re right, I did take an interest in your dossier in particular,” said Bernardo. “I just wanted to be sure you were certain.”

“And I asked why, not whether or not you were.” Looking at a vine wall ahead of them that was too slippery or tall to climb one at a time, Megan said, “Give me a boost.”

“Sure thing,” smiled Bernardo, as he crouched, and waited for Megan to run toward him, then helped boost her jump height by grabbing and pushing her legs upward.

Looking up at Megan as she tried to hoist herself up to the top of the wall after slipping and losing her grip for a moment, he responded, “I took an interest in you in particular.”

Megan sighed, and rubbed her temples before grabbing his hand to pull him up and over the wall, “So you do like me.”

As Bernardo climbed up and stood up next to Megan, he said, “And I thought you said it was already obvious to you.”

Megan tried to ignore Bernardo’s attempts to flirt with her, and tried to focus more on the forest around her.

“The Amazon’s a wonder, isn’t it.”

“One of the world’s best,” said Megan, looking away as Bernardo pulled out a crossbow and fired a zipline’s wire to the other side of a set of rapids ahead of them. “Shame the locals are cutting it down for short-term profit like this.”

“What does it compare to the forests in Switzerland?” he asked her as he attached the zipline to a nearby tree trunk.

“I don’t want to talk about anything related to Switzerland,” she said as she attached to the zipline and glided over the rapids beneath first.

She started rubbing her temples even harder while she waited for Bernardo to follow suit; she was so focused on doing that, she was almost shocked when he arrived, and said, “You know that adage about how history tends to repeat itself?”

“What about it?”

“I think by blocking out your feelings, you’re doing it.”  
“Doing what exactly?” frowned Megan.

“Repeating history,” said Bernardo as he shimmied along the edge of a cliff overlooking the rapids, as the easiest handhold spots to ascend the cliff ahead of them was blocked by a set of several knocked-down trees covered in foliage.

“I’m not going to make the same mistakes I made back then,” said Megan as she found her footing, and carefully inched her way out onto the ledge.

“And yet you’re trying to do that by conveniently forgetting about your own history,” said Bernardo. “That’s not how it works. You’re bound to make mistakes again. The thing is though… the mistakes you made weren’t bad, they were opportunities for growth.”

Megan wanted to rub her temples even more, but she was too busy pressing herself against the cliff with her arms. “Can we talk about this when I’m not overlooking a massive fall to my possible death, please?”

“Right, of course,” said Bernardo as he found a good handhold behind him and turned around to start scaling the rock wall. “You’re a good climber, by the way.”

“Thanks,” said Megan indifferently as she started to ascend the wall as well.

“I assume you climbed around the Swiss Alps a lot when you were younger.”

“And? What if I did?”

“Is that where you started to want to learn about the environment more?”

Megan sighed, and caught her breath as they reached the top of the cliff.

“I need to sit down for a moment.”

“Sorry,” said Bernardo. “I suppose I’m being a little too pushy.”

Megan looked away from Bernardo for a moment, and tried to rub her temples more. She ended up putting her hands to her head, and started breathing heavily through her gritted teeth.

“My family was one known for serving in the Swiss army, that spanned across several generations. I realized after seeing the beauty of the Alps that I didn’t want to be in the damned military; I wanted to learn about the world, not about ways to destroy it. So, I saved up to get a college degree.”

“But you never finished it,” said Bernardo. “Did they pressure you to stop?”

“I still couldn’t afford it due to the damned hyperdepression,” said Megan. “I ended up working nights to try and pay off my tuition and rent. Selling my body. That’s when I got pregnant with Marie.” Megan sighed, and ran her hand through her hair while looking up at the rays of sun coming through the jungle canopy.

“She was the most beautiful thing I had ever seen, more so than anywhere I went during my study abroad program,” she said, her voice breaking a little. “I realized I was chasing a fucking fairy-tale; I didn’t want her to grow up with a mother who was a prostitute, constantly being slut-shamed by her ‘friends’ in college. Didn’t want her to have to go through what I went through. So, I quit college, and moved back in with my folks.

“But that was a mistake too. I ended up in the military after that because of them, quickly rose through the ranks not long after she was born. I was good at what I did; I suppose it runs in my family’s blood after all. We’re good killers. I told myself that I was fighting for Marie and her future. Then I took on the assignment that got her killed. And now I’m fighting for Marie, all right… Fighting to wipe the bastards that took her from me off the face of the Earth.”

Bernardo said, “I’m sorry, Megan… I wanted to know about the gap in your profile after quitting college… but I had no idea it was that bad…”

Collecting herself, Megan said, “I don’t care if you’re sorry. You may have been a woman once, but you’re a man now. And if there’s one thing being a whore taught me, it’s that all men want the same thing.”

“You’re only half-right,” said Bernardo. “I may have wanted to become a man, but I had to become a Ripper first. You’re not the only one who’s been torn apart by what society demands of you.” Bernardo pointed to the scars on his wrists.

“You tried to kill yourself?”

“Fortunately, it wasn’t that which killed me the first time. My parents hated me for who I was and what I wanted to be. I ended up associating with some bad people to make ends meet when they disowned me.”

“The gangs you’re working within the ranks of?”

“Yes. That’s when I decided to make a choice to defect, become a double agent within their ranks. Then, your boss, August, gave me a chance to become what I wanted to be, ironically right when I was hurt pretty bad in a skirmish between rival gangs.” Bernardo said while grasping her hands in his, “It’s not too late to own your future, Candide. I just hate to see you throwing it away like this. You still have a chance to do what you’re passionate about.”

Megan looked away from Bernardo, and toward the horizon, where she saw the biodome. “Not right now, though. I have a job to finish,” as she got back on her feet.

“No. _We_ have a job to finish,” said Bernardo. “Now that you were honest with me, it’s time I be honest with you. You know the weapons dealer you’re looking for, Enrique Da Costa?”

“Yes. What about him?” said Megan.

“He doesn’t deal in weapons,” said Bernardo, “he studies the local plant species.”

“He _what?_ ”

“That’s the other reason why I needed you to come here with me in particular. Aside from the fact that I have feelings for you, that is,” said Bernardo. “He’s been storing and growing some rare plant species in the biodomes. From what little I’ve been able to see his men doing with them, my guess is that he’s performing experiments on them of some kind.”

“Damn it, Bernardo, why didn’t you tell me this when the others were here!” said Megan. “Wait a minute…” Megan started to pace around.

“What are you thinking?”

“I was nearly poisoned by a human trafficker back in our last mission in Macau. He was using the poison on the local population, probably to test it,” said Megan. “If Enrique was working with Bruce, and Bruce was working with the Architects, then… oh my god…”

“What is it, Megan? Tell me.”

Megan looked up at Bernardo. “The Architects… World Six Meltdown… whatever the attack is going to be, and wherever it’s going to take place at, the real damage isn’t going to be with traditional weaponry, it’s going to be done with a bioweapon.”

Bernardo frowned. “Shit. That makes sense.”

“Come on,” said Megan. “We have to get to the biodomes, now.”

Bernardo nodded, and they started running through the rainforest in the direction of the biodomes.

**Architects’ Main Sleeper Cell, Sarawat Mountains, Saudi Arabia**

Jack entered the secret laboratory hidden within the bunker underneath the stronghold’s outer fortress façade. The ceilings, walls, and floors of the laboratory consisted of polished white tiles, and futuristic equipment, computers, monitors, and servers were sitting all over. Several tubes full of some sort of red liquid lined the walls and ceilings. Scientists in white laboratory coats and hazmat suits were in some areas of the compound sealed off by Plexiglas walls and electronically locked doors, while elite Architects troops distinguished by the extra marks and badges on their uniforms as well as the more varied and heavily customized automatic weapons that they were carrying kept watch over them. Security cameras and laser tripwires guarded some of the hallways.

_This is so strange… The Architects are supposed to be neo-Luddites. Not to mention that technology this advanced should be outside of their budget. What the hell is going on down here?_

Jack followed the signs to the security center, then hacked the lock to the entrance and quickly beat the two technicians inside to death. She snapped the neck of the first one while he was snoozing in his seat, then beat the second one with a one-two punch to the solar plexus and a decapitating blow to side of his jaw as he was getting up from his chair to see who had done that.

She then looked at the security hub’s monitors for a moment. She raised one of her hands to the computer to hack it, and waited for the security hub to grant her access to it. She then raised both of her hands to the monitors and scanned the various security camera feeds; she moved her hands through the air as if she was manipulating an imaginary touch keyboard.

She then stopped when she saw three of the security camera feeds showing footage of a screaming man being tortured in the basement. The man’s face and body was bloody, bruised, and extremely disfigured, yet he looked familiar…

_Oh my god… that’s Aidan!_ Jack realized in horror.

Jack quickly moved two of her fingers apart in the direction of one of the consoles showing said feed; the feed then displayed across the entire set of screens.

Aidan was restrained to a rusty metal bed; his arms tied above his head at his biceps and wrists, his legs tied at his ankles and thighs. One terrorist was holding his head back while another put a rag on his head and pouring gallons of water of a sickly yellow hue onto the rag.

Jack couldn’t watch for very long; this made her feel sick to her nonexistent stomach.

But then her attention snapped back to the console as a familiar voice flooded its speakers, a voice that she remembered well, yet it simultaneously felt like it came from a distant dream.

But it wasn’t from a dream; it was from a living nightmare.

It was Khaled al-Amin.

He was talking with one of the Architects’ commanding officers down in the basement Aidan was being tortured in.

“…he’s revealed everything you wanted us to learn from him, sir… there’s just one thing left that we’re having trouble getting out of him,” said the officer.

“And what’s that?” said Khaled.

“The location of this ‘Jack the Ripper’ you’ve been talking about.”

“Then let me get it out of him myself,” said Khaled, who cocked his SPAS-12 shotgun. It looked like the same model that he killed Jack’s mortal body with; it might even have been the same gun itself.

Khaled walked over to the terrorists interrogating Aidan, and told them, “Leave us,” in Arabic. The terrorists stopped pouring water on Aidan’s face, and Aidan gasped for air, choking and hurling out a ton of water onto the floor.

Khaled said to Aidan, “Americans like you have waterboarded a lot of people like me over the last several decades, scientist. Now you know what it’s like. It’s painful, isn’t it? You can trust me when I say I was in your shoes once. Now, we’re bringing the pain to you and your home. I killed your fellow scientists, save for you and a few others. But there is one I want to know about in particular. So tell me. Where is Jack the Ripper?”

Aidan cried, “I don’t know!”

Khaled aimed his shotgun at Aidan’s knee, and fired. Aidan screamed.

After waiting for Aidan to stop screaming, Khaled continued. “You haven’t eaten for days, and the only water you’ve been given is through a rag. Your wounds are pretty deep, and now you’re about to lose a dangerous amount of blood. We can heal you. All you have to do is tell us.”

“I’m telling you the truth! I’ve told you everything you’ve wanted!” cried Aidan.

Khaled fired his SPAS-12 at Aidan’s other knee inches away from it. Aidan screamed even louder.

He grabbed Aidan by his now-shaved head, and screamed into his face, “WHERE IS SHE?”

“Go to hell…” said Aidan. “I’m going to die in here anyway…”

Khaled grimaced, and placed his SPAS-12 on the holster on his back.

“Give me the pliers.” he barked in Arabic to the base’s commanding officer.

“Yes, sir.” The officer went to a table and picked up a set of pliers.

“Hold his mouth open.”

The officer nodded, and grabbed Aidan by the head and forced his mouth open. Aidan screamed as Khaled went up to him, and said while holding the pliers, “The human body is a fragile thing. So many ways to die… You know that if you get a tooth infection it can kill you, right? The infection gets in your blood, runs into your body, stops your organs from working… even your heart. Soon you’ll have no teeth left to speak of, though. So, I suggest you start talking while you’re still able to.”

“OKAY!” Aidan screamed.

Khaled looked at the officer, and the officer nodded to him in response, and took his hands off of Aidan’s head and the sides of his mouth.

Panting, Aidan cried, “All I know is that she was told to go to Guangzhou after Geneva…”

“We already know this much. And my men failed to complete their objectives there. I assume she did that single-handedly.”

“I don’t know where she went next! I swear!”

“That’s a shame,” said Khaled. He picked back up his pliers again when his smartphone rang.

“Looks like you were saved by the bell of my ringtone, scientist.” Taking his phone out of his pocket and holding it to his ear, Khaled said, “Yes? An intruder? You said the hack was local? Where?”

Khaled grinned, and dropped his pliers. “Thank you, American. You’ve told us enough,” he said as he readied his SPAS-12 from its holster again, cocked it, and fired into Aidan’s stomach.

Khaled looked right into the eye of the security camera; he was staring directly at Jack through the console now.

_Shit…_ Jack thought.

Khaled said, “I’m glad you’ve come here to meet the real me in person, Jack the Ripper. We will meet face-to-face soon. As a matter of fact, it won’t be very long before we will become much closer than just that.” Khaled turned to the commanding officer, and said in Arabic, “Fry your BISECT.”

“Yes, sir,” said the officer, and held his hand up to his forehead. Jack could see the veins in his arms turn purple as the skin and flesh on his head began to fall off and his endoskeleton emitted electric bolts before he fell to the floor.

“That Ripper has maybe a minute left to live. If he was ever truly alive after his surgery, that is,” said Khaled. “His BISECT alone stores the encryption keys to the Architects’ global computer network here, Jack. But my men are also destroying the servers on site as we speak. You will find what you need on my personal laptop, and only my personal laptop. I wonder which objective you will choose to pursue. Come after me, score your precious intelligence…” Khaled pointed over to Aidan. “…or save your so-called ‘friend.’ 

“You’re fighting on the wrong side of history, Jack the Ripper. Mark my words: you will be a freedom fighter in time, whether it’s through my methods of persuasion, or of your own free will. More sand is falling through the hourglass for Aidan, and my Ripper that is to be my ace-in-the-hole here, as the seconds go by. You’ll need to hurry, before they become buried in the sands of the desert, and become victims to time itself.”

Khaled cocked his SPAS-12 shotgun once more, and blasted through the cameras, leaving static on the consoles.

“Damn it!” Jack yelled as she smashed her fist through the security hub computer’s desk.

Jack hurried out of the security center, and down to the basement, triangulating the location of the basement Khaled was in on her BISECT’s GPS in the tunnels deeper into the bunker with the video feeds of the three cameras she had stored by hacking into them earlier.

She blasted several terrorists with her arm cannons along the way before they could shoot her.

Alarms were going off throughout the laboratory now, and security turrets and small drones had been deployed.

Jack ran down a set of stairs, continuing raining hellfire down on the Architects grunts with rapid-fire laser blasts, and ran through the dirty tunnels until she reached the interrogation room.

She quickly smashed through the rusty metal bunker door, and found the commanding officer lying on the floor with all his uniform and flesh burnt off, revealing the terrifying endoskeleton underneath, which was slowly eating itself and emitting dangerous amounts of electric bolts. Aidan was bleeding to death where Khaled had left him.

Jack looked over at Aidan. “Jack… is that you?” said Aidan.

But then she looked at the Ripper endoskeleton on the floor, which was starting to self-destruct. 

“Jack, wait… please!”

Then she looked back at Aidan.

“I’m sorry,” she said.

“No! Jack, don’t! You need to know…” said Aidan as blood oozed from his mouth.

Jack knelt over and aimed her hand in the direction of the Ripper; her veins turned blue as she started to link her BISECT to the Ripper’s dying one.

“Camille… she didn’t kill herself…” said Aidan as she began the download of the remaining files on the Ripper Architect’s BISECT. “And Victoria found out what she did… the Rippers… their thoughts, their memories… all of them, they’re… hell… she didn’t know what she was getting into… none of us did…” Aidan’s eyes went wide as he said, “World Six Meltdown… you can still stop it, but it’s just part of the bigger picture… you don’t need to interface with that Ripper, Jack, you can’t! You have to listen… August, he’s—”

Then something very bizarre happened.

**Khaled’s Childhood Home, Kabul, Afghanistan**

Jack was inside the head of another Ripper again, this time she was positive. Only she wasn’t experiencing the thoughts and current experience of the Ripper’s, she was experiencing _past_ ones! 

And worse, these memories weren’t the Ripper’s…

They were Khaled’s.

Jack watched through the terrified eyes of a sixteen-year-old Khaled as his parents and siblings were killed across the hallway; he was hiding underneath his bed.

“The last sleeper cell of _Alqua’_ s purged, Aug. Uploading the confirmation pic via my smartphone now,” said the voice of _a Daniel in his early thirties._

Then a young Grigori pulled Khaled out from under his bed.

“Let go of me!” yelled Khaled, as stabbed Grigori with a fork.

“Arrgh… this little _cyka_ ’s got some fight in him!” Grigori grabbed him by the hand, and yanked the fork out of his hand, tossing it aside.

“Your friends killed my family… their unit burned my hometown to the ground with flamethrowers and white phosphorus bombs… but there was one death that almost wasn’t done by their own hands…” said an older Khaled whose hologram appeared out of thin air as Jack/ the younger Khaled was dragged by Grigori through the hallways. She could hear a baby crying in the bedroom Grigori was pulling her towards.

Inside the bedroom, Megan was holding a child.

Daniel said, “Aug says there ain’t supposed to be any survivors, Meg!”

“Those bastards may be above killing children, but…” said Megan. “Fuck! I can’t do it!”

“Then have someone else do it,” said Grigori, pushing Jack/ Khaled to the ground in front of the other two.

Daniel said, “Why didn’t you kill this kid yet, Grigori?”

“I thought he might come in handy,” said Grigori.

Megan looked at the kid, and grimaced. Megan put the crying baby in a small baby chair that was hand-crafted for her by Khaled’s parents.

“My sister’s name was Jalila,” said Khaled. “She was only allowed to live for less than a year on this Earth…”

Daniel said, “All right, kid. It’s him or you. On your feet.”

He grabbed Khaled, yanked him to his feet, grabbed him by the hands, and put his M1911 in both of their hands. “We don’t want to do this either, kid, but a job’s a job.”

“No!” cried Jack/ Khaled as Daniel forced Khaled to aim in the direction of Jalila.

“A little further, kid… Come on.”

Khaled looked at his screaming baby sister.

“I was given a decision to make… I didn’t make it lightly, but in the end… it wasn’t a choice at all…” said the grown-up Khaled.

Khaled sank his teeth into Daniel’s arm.

“Bastard!” Daniel yelled, and the bullet missed the baby, shooting through a pipe in the walls and causing gas to spread into the room.

“Shit,” said Megan, “that gas is going to turn into fire soon. We need to go!”

Daniel bashed Khaled in the head with his gun, knocking him to the ground. “Wrong choice,” said Daniel, picking up his gun, and shooting Jalila between the eyes.

“NO! JALILA!” screamed Khaled. “I HATE YOU!” Jack/ Khaled screamed at Daniel.

“That little _cyka_ definitely has some fight in him. He could come in a lot of handy…” said Grigori as he picked up Khaled again, and dragged him away.

“As I looked back for the last time, I saw my baby sister’s corpse staring at me with this empty look in her eyes, her mouth hanging open. That empty look still haunts me to this day,” said Khaled furiously as he stared at the dead child, then back at Jack/ the younger version of Khaled. “She did not deserve to die like that. Perhaps if she was given a chance to live, she could’ve brought greatness to the world… Instead, she was put down like an animal. My entire village was massacred. I was the sole survivor. Yet, your future boss, August, had a fate worse than death planned for me…”

**Transcendence Privately-Owned Black Site, Near Riyadh, Saudi Arabia**

Six years later, Jack watched—no, _felt_ — Khaled being waterboarded himself. 

Jack/ Khaled looked at Chris and Terrence as they poured water over the rag on his face when he heard August speak.

“Stop it, both of you!” said August. “This man’s had enough. I think he’s ready.”

August walked up to Jack/ Khaled, and said, “Grigori told me a while back that you’d be useful. Apparently, he’s been smoking too much on the job again. You’re of no use to us anymore, Khaled.”

As Jack/ a young Khaled was left to cough and spit out water for a second, Khaled looked at August.

“I learned a valuable lesson that day. Despite that I see them now as mere tools for propaganda, when I was young, I used to enjoy watching American action movies… In those movies, the villain always announced their plans before killing the hero. 

“But, as it turned out, real villains don’t do that... The man you look up to, August Brand, messed with my mind, torturing and humiliating me, depriving me of food and water for weeks, then when they finally fed me, they fed me disgusting food laced with gunpowder… Gunpowder filled with a kind of poison… The kind that could drive a strong man beyond insane, and back then, I was not strong… I was terrified, broken, empty inside…

“As I waited in my cell for them to bring me my next meal, I knew I could not wait any longer. I knew what my fate would be if I waited for them to come back in feed me. And, so I made a decision… I broke my utensils in half and turned them into shivs, and clawed my way through the rotting mortar of the brick wall underneath the moldy cot I had to sleep on until my hands bled… Then I crawled out, and found myself in an air vent...”

Jack/ Khaled crawled through the vent until she came to a hatch with loose screws, and broke them open with the shiv. She kicked the hatch open, and chucked a brick at the head of the man sitting and watching the security camera feeds, who had been twirling a set of master keys in his hand, before he could react to Jack/ Khaled coming out of the vent. The man died instantly. Jack/ Khaled looked at the keys, picked them up, and looked at the security camera feeds on the dead man’s computer console.

She looked at one of the feeds which showed August talking to another officer with his face obscured.

“You may have the body of a supersoldier, Jack the Ripper,” said the present-day Khaled’s hologram as it appeared next to her, “but in here?” he said as he pointed to the side of his head. “You are but a child as of yet. Like Jalila. And like I was back then. You want to know how to become a soldier, Jack?” The older Khaled nudged Jack so she was looking at August and the officer through the screen again.

“Initiate Gamma Protocol,” said August. “Execute all the failed test subjects.”

“Yes, sir.”

“Look at the clues in the world around you…”

Jack/ Khaled looked wide-eyed at the screen, then the keys she was holding.

“Then try to figure out what they mean…”

Jack/ Khaled saw a hole that a key could fit into next to the keyboard console on the desk that the computer was built into labeled “Emergency Cell Door Release Mechanism”. She began to type into the security computer, and saw footage of more prisoners like Khaled being held in cells.

“…and based on what you think they mean, what is best for you, and the people you love…”

Jack/ Khaled heard a voice coming from the computer’s intercom. “Release the gas into the prison cells.”

“…make a decision!”

“Hello? I said release the gas into the prison cells! Why aren’t you responding?”

Then Jack/ Khaled looked at the set of keys, found one that fit the hole, inserted the key into the hole, and twisted it.

And before Jack/ younger Khaled’s eyes, the prison cell doors opened, and the other prisoners, in disbelief, walked out and looked for guards. The guards on patrol were shocked at this.

“Security! Why the hell did you do that?”

And Jack/ younger Khaled spoke into the intercom, her voice ringing throughout the private prison facility. “To all prisoners, this is Khaled al-Amin: you are now free. You have a choice to make: kill or be killed! And to the bastards that killed my family… you won’t get away from me.”

The older Khaled’s hologram stepped up to Jack, and said to her as she watched the riot turn violent and prisoners and guards started to fight and kill each other, “I and the other prisoners started a riot. Many of us died that day. But I and many others managed to escape. Those who did became my brothers in arms, and together, as we carved our way out of that prison brick by brick and enemy by enemy, we became the architects of our own freedom. We would eventually become _Almuhandisin Almuemariiyn._ The Architects… and today, we will become the architects of the freedom of the world.”

Khaled said to Jack as she looked at August’s plane taking off from a nearby airfield where the Jack/ Khaled and the other remaining prisoners were commandeering trucks for escape, “August and your so-called friends managed to escape that day too, barely avoiding our wrath. But they will not avoid it for much longer. That poison that was nearly used on my brothers and I, it is called ‘Fairy Dust’. Known for giving its victims butterflies in their stomachs before making them turn and make them very sick and start to hallucinate, if it doesn’t kill them.”

**Destroyed Presidential Palace, Democratic Republic of Congo**

Now Jack and the older Khaled looked completely alike as they walked together through the ruins of an entire city burned halfway to the ground by battle.

Jack and Khaled looked around at the Architects as they aided the rebels in starting a coup on the country’s government and slitting the throats of its officials.

We have been testing that gas on the unwelcome political regimes America and its Western allies installed in Third World nations in Africa, South America, the Middle East, and Asia,” said Khaled as Jack put on a gasmask as the hissing sound and thick fumes of invisible gas entered the presidential palace’s ruins, causing the government officials to choke to death while their skin bubbled and bled, falling off of their bodies as they collapsed to the rubble-covered floors. “And now,” said Khaled, “we believe the poison’s latest iteration is potent enough to be used not on proxies, but on the very doorsteps of our enemies themselves.”

As Jack and Khaled walked out to a balcony on an upper floor of the presidential palace, Khaled looked at Jack.

“You can feel it, can’t you? The Earth is beginning to melt down from global climate change, the Earth’s people are starving and suffering, and yet are leaders are doing nothing to save either. _Your_ leaders are doing NOTHING to save us! So, we must show them that they must make a decision… Step down for the greater good of humanity, or be killed.”

As the remaining leaders of the now-overthrown regime were thrown off of the balcony and into fires beneath it by Khaled’s lieutenants, one of them said while looking right at Jack, “Khaled, my brother, we did it.”

“Like Jalila, I see greatness in you, Jack the Ripper,” said Khaled as he put his hand on Jack’s arms. “You are fighting on the wrong side of history. You want to save the world, but you do not know how to go about it right. The leaders of the so-called ‘free’ world will be its downfall. They do not realize how urgent the need for change is. So, in order to make them bring about change… we must bring change to their doorstep.”

“Give us a speech, Khaled!” said another lieutenant.

As Jack started to feel disoriented and confused, and her body began to flicker from Khaled’s to her own, the other version of Khaled raised Jack’s arm upward, with her hand in a fist.

“WE ARE THE ARCHITECTS!” Jack/ Khaled yelled to the masses of rebels watching the balcony.

“We are the Architects!” screamed the crowd.

And as Jack/ Khaled’s lips began to move again to give the speech, she began to become more and more detached from her surroundings. The only constant was Khaled’s hologram.

“World Six Meltdown is inevitable, Jack the Ripper,” said Khaled to Jack as he looked her in the eyes. “You can save the world, but you cannot save everyone. So, you may as well try to save as many people as possible. But to do that… you must work for me. Work for the 99 percent… and tear the old world the capitalist-fascists built apart, so that we may be the architects of a new one.”

“No…” said Jack, “…I can’t. This is… wrong.”

“Is it, though? Is it that much different from what you have already been doing? Killing people? That’s what soldiers do, after all.” said Khaled before he grabbed Jack by the arms. Breathing heavily, Khaled told Jack, “It’s time you start to wake up to the reality you’re trapped in, Jack the Ripper. To see the cage is to free yourself from it. Only then will you manage to survive and save the world. Otherwise, you will end up a dead Ripper, like my friend. You are looking at him right now, are you not? Your friend August is lying to you. You want to know what is happening to your mind right now, and what happened in Guangzhou, and Geneva? Then wake up, Jack. WAKE UP!” 

Khaled snapped his fingers at her, and as he did, his hologram disintegrated, and the world around Jack faded to white, then black.

**Architects’ Main Sleeper Cell, Sarawat Mountains, Saudi Arabia**

Jack woke up, terrified and extremely disoriented, and found herself staring wide-eyed at the corpse of the Ripper that was Khaled’s lieutenant.

It was about to self-destruct. 

Jack dove away with the help of her jets before it exploded, barely avoiding the blast radius.

Scrambling to her feet, she held her head in her hands and screamed at the top of her lungs.

She looked over at Aidan’s body.

Trying to snap out of the horrible trance she had fallen into because of whatever program Khaled had uploaded to his lieutenant’s BISECT, Jack yelled, “Aidan? Aidan, what were you saying earlier? Aidan? AIDAN!”

But Aidan had bled to death seconds ago.

Horrified, Jack looked around; the alarms were still going off, and none of the terrorists had arrived in the interrogation room to apprehend her yet.

_That memory… it happened in seconds, but felt like years. Dream time, dreams within dreams…_ Jack thought. _What the hell is going on?_

Shaking her head, Jack said to herself, _I have to keep going._

Weirdly enough, Jack knew where Khaled’s personal laptop was now.

_The encryption key!_ Jack thought. _It’s in my BISECT now. Khaled was telling the truth._

She ran back up toward the laboratory. Along the way, she saw several NATO, Transcendence, and other PMCs’ soldiers being held captive in the detention camps housed down in the tunnels, some of whom were extremely hurt and disfigured from torture, but some who were ironically in the same cells, carrying weapons and doing push-ups and sit-ups on their cots. They had Architects’ uniforms hanging on the walls of their cells!

_Jesus Christ,_ Jack thought, _the poison Khaled mentioned, ‘Fairy Dust’… not only does it kill some people, but it can brainwash others! If people don’t volunteer to become Architects, then they’ll be kidnapped, trafficked here, and turned into them instead!_

Jack thought as she ran through the laboratories, seeing the Fairy Dust being refined and the terrorists destroying equipment and servers, _what I saw in Khaled’s head was real… and that of the prostitute in China. It’s all been real, I should’ve known! And the others… if they kidnapped Khaled when he was a teenager, killed his family, imprisoned him, and experimented on him with the same poisons… they’re partially responsible for creating Khaled… creating the Architects!_

This made Jack feel disgusting. _I don’t know what to believe anymore. What I saw August, Daniel, Grigori, and Megan do in that memory was wrong… sick…_

While Jack was dashing through the hallways, she came to an intersection where terrorists and mini-drones were approaching from all four directions, and the laser tripwires in the way of the hallway leading to the elevator had turned into deadly energy beams! Screaming, Jack turned on her jets and did several flips, parkour moves, jumps, slides, and wallruns through the field of lasers while bullets flew all around her. She then used explosive blasts from her laser cannons to clear the way ahead of Architects and their turrets and drones. Bullets were hitting her from behind and tearing off her fake uniform and skin. Jack ran to the elevator and hit the switch, only to find that the blast doors weren’t opening.

“Damn it!” yelled Jack as she hit the switch again and again before realizing that the elevator was coming all the way back down from the top of the fortress.

Turning around, Jack shouted and defended herself as dozens of terrorists converged on her while she had no cover to hide behind. She fired blasts of several proximity-sensitive energy balls from her cannons to detonate as they neared them, and then started blasting them from afar with long-range dual laser cannon fire.

As the waves of terrorists were driven back by the proximity energy balls’ explosions and her laser fire, one of them set-up an armor-piercing machine gun turret on the ground, and manned it.

_Come on, elevator, COME ON!_

The turret was starting to dent and cut into her endoskeleton when the elevator finally arrived and the blast doors opened. 

Jack kept firing at the terrorists closing in on her as she entered the elevator and desperately hit the button to close the door. 

As the elevator was mid-way through the ascent to the surface, it stopped, and the lights went off. Jack turned her augmented vision on night mode.

_Not good,_ Jack thought, _they must’ve killed the power!_

As she felt the elevator’s cables start to detach from the elevator car under its weight, Jack quickly burnt a hole in the car’s ceiling, used her jets to jump up to and through it, and jump toward the wall to catch and grip it right before the elevator car’s cables snapped and it fell to the bottom of the shaft until it hit it and exploded, shaking the entire elevator shaft’s walls. The blast would’ve knocked Jack off of the wall if it weren’t for the adhesive grips built into her hands and feet.

She was climbing up the wall as fast as she could, utilizing her jets and grapple line to wallrun up the shaft as well as her adhesive grips, when terrorists at the top of the wall started chucking pipe bombs down at her from above. Some were starting to rappel down to her level.

_Oh, you’ve got to be fucking shitting me!_ Jack thought, as she started using her laser cannons to do crowd control as the terrorists descended on their rappel lines while hopping from side to side of the elevator shaft with her jets to avoid falling or getting hit by the pipe bombs. She used spread-shots when they got too close, and then concentrated long-range blasts and burst fire to get the ones and the top and at mid-range.   
At some point, the terrorists started using sticky pipe bombs and threw them against the walls of the shaft. Jack had to force herself to drop for a moment and catch herself with her adhesive grip to avoid the blast of those pipe bombs. Now the ceiling of the shaft was starting to collapse.

Jack was climbing up when she saw that one of the sticky bombs had blown a hole in the wall where there was an entrance to another set of tunnels built into the rocky foundation of the mountains.

_Thank god,_ thought Jack. _I swear I’m never riding an elevator again._

As Jack ran through the dimly-lit collapsing rock and dirt tunnels, she eventually managed to find a route that reached the surface, where she could hear the alarms again. The entire base was on high alert, and the Architects were sending out high-ranking personnel on helicopters while also setting up mobile surface-to-air missile defenses in the fortress.

Needless to say, flying out somehow was not an option at this point.

But Jack still had Khaled’s personal laptop to get to. She headed into the palace within the fortress where Khaled stayed at, using her optical camouflage to avoid the elite terrorists in uniform and quad-rotor aerial drones searching for her.

Once she made it, she entered the ruined palace by kicking in the door, and ran up the stairs to where Khaled’s quarters were.

There, she saw his personal laptop. 

Jack walked through the door when a painful flashing and ringing noise entered her head.

Jack collapsed onto the rug next to Khaled’s bed. 

She felt around for Khaled’s bed as she tried to fight the blinding light and deafening ringing in her senses, only for someone and something heavy and metallic to smack her to the floor again. Finally, the stunning effect started to clear from her head as she tried to turn around to see what it was that had hit her, before a shotgun blast sent her flying into the bedpost. The bedframe collapsed underneath her weight, and she managed to get up despite that most of her skin was torn off at this point and the center of her endoskeleton’s torso was heavily dented and emitting some electricity.

“KHALED!” screamed Jack as she looked at Khaled appear with his SPAS-12.

Khaled fired another UltraAlloy piercing shotgun shell at Jack’s legs, knocking her off of them for a moment, and putting more dents in her legs and lower torso.

“Strange,” said Khaled as he looked at an old cellphone-looking device, “I thought Jasper’s BISECT algorithm would work on you. Apparently, you’ve got a stronger mind than I thought. No matter. Once I destroy your endoskeleton, I’ll pry your consciousness out of it with this gadget he gave me, and put it in a Ripper I have the controls to. Then we’ll see if you’ll join us.”

“Never!” yelled Jack, as she used her grapple line to pull Khaled’s SPAS-12 out of his hands, and crush it with her hands.

Khaled grimaced as he pulled out a metallic staff that had a massive cattle prod attached to the end of it.

“Once you’re captured, we’ll get watch the old world burn together from here as World Six Meltdown happens. You’re too late to stop it. It’s less than 12 hours away from happening!”

“Go to hell!” Jack screamed as she used her laser cannons to blast Khaled, only for Khaled’s staff to deflect the blasts and hurl them back at Jack.

Jack screamed, now her endoskeleton was emitting even more electricity than before.

Jack decided to holster her cannons as Khaled swung his staff at her, hitting her across the face and zapping her with an intense electric current several times. Before Jack started seeing static, Jack grabbed the staff, and pulled it out of Khaled’s hands. An angry Khaled tried to pull out a pipe bomb, only for Jack to grab his arm and hurl it into Khaled’s bathroom before it exploded. Jack then ripped through Khaled’s stomach with her hands, and kicked him into a wall.

Khaled held his open stomach wound, and stumbled toward Jack as she bent his UltraAlloy staff into a hook-shape.

“You think you can control me? You think I’m a freak who no one cares about, that can be turned against her friends so easily!” yelled Jack.

Khaled laughed. “Silly girl… I’m just—”

Jack stabbed Khaled in the stomach and turned on the cattle prod, zapping him from the inside out. Khaled screamed.

“You underestimate me. Your World Six Meltdown attack will fail. You’re going to die here, knowing that you’re a monster, and that YOU MEAN NOTHING!”

“…a… double…” Khaled said just before Jack hooked Khaled by the insides, and shoved the other side of the staff into the ceiling, hanging Khaled before he bled to death and the hook tore through the rest of his insides and his skull due to gravity.

_…a double?_ Jack thought.

“Motherfucker!” Jack screamed, and pounded Khaled’s nightstand, destroying it.

_I’m going to find the real Khaled, and kill him. Not just for Caitlin now, but for me. This is personal now._

She then turned to see Khaled’s personal laptop computer was still intact.

Jack quickly ran over to the laptop and started the download. As the rest of the Architects in the base began to investigate the noise the two of them had made, Jack gleaned the files from the server the laptop was connected to as fast as she could while defending her position.

After setting up the backdoor program to download the data right to her BISECT, she readied her arms’ cannons for another fight.

**The Favelas, Rio De Janeiro, Brazil**

Daniel and Grigori captured Enrique’s number two after chasing him down in the alleyway leading to a pathway above the favelas. They took him up to a view overlooking the favelas and a nearby hill full of trees and greenery.

“Enough running around. Where’s Enrique?” said Daniel.

“I don’t know!” said Enrique’s number two.

Daniel punched him hard in the gut. The man collapsed and puked onto the concrete while on his hands and knees.

Grigori said while smoking a cigaweed, “Didn’t _tu mama_ ever tell you not to use drugs? Hard ones, at least.” He coughed out smoke, and then kicked the man onto the ground.

The man yelled, “Go to hell.”

Daniel picked the man up, and pushed him against a concrete block next to a massive drop toward the favelas, and said to him, “Take a good look down at the favela down there, mate. Somewhere down there is your life’s end. Now we both know I ain’t got times for no games and you ain’t got much distance between you and a fall that’ll at best break your legs, but in reality will probably cause a very painful death. So tell me: where. Is. ENRIQUE?”

“He’s cleaning house, evacuating the gang stronghold!” said the number two. “I was supposed to be a distraction. Looks like I did my job well.”

Looking away for a moment, Daniel said, “Yeah. You did,” took the man away from the concrete block, and shoved the man into a nearby dumpster sitting against the side of another building in the alley. 

“Here’s your payment,” Daniel said as he proceeded to shoot the man in the head, causing his blood to splatter all over the dumpster.

“Damn, Daniel,” said Grigori, “that looked kind of badass from the angle I was looking toward you at.”

“It tends to look better at 12:00,” said Daniel. “Let’s go.”

Daniel and Grigori entered the gang stronghold by stowing away in the back of a Jeep containing drugs in a convoy headed there to bypass the checkpoint. Once they got out, they quickly dispatched the members of the convoy with their rifles, but not before one fired a flare gun into the air to send out an alert signal to the stronghold.

“Check your corners, Griggs, we’re in their home turf right now!”

“You say that as if we don’t do shit like this all the time,” Grigori said as they began the firefight through the upper favelas.

A technical with a turret in the back of it arrived to defend the street they need to run through to move forward. The two of them quickly took a detour through a building on the side of the street to avoid the turret’s machine gun fire. The turret ripped tore the concrete of the walls and furniture in the rooms they were running through, scaring the people inside who were in the living room watching TV.

A heavily armored set of mercenaries who were clearly hired by the Architects fired light machine guns and shotguns at Daniel and Grigori as they ran through the market area, killing several live animals in cages that got caught in the crossfire while civilians screamed and ran for their lives.

Daniel and Grigori fired their underbarrel grenade launchers in unison at the enemy mercs, knocking them off of their feet while trying to avoid hurting any civilians. They then looked up as more mercs appeared on the roofs and balconies of the buildings on the sides of the market alleyways, and exchanged fire with them.

Grigori took several bullets to the chest; he yelled and sunk onto one knee for a moment.

“Griggs!” Daniel shot the remaining men on the roof, then headed towards Grigori. “You okay?”

“Yes, I’m wearing Kevlar—” Grigori paused to wheeze and cough, “—for a reason!”

“We need to get those lungs of yours checked out when we get stateside Griggs, no arguments!”

“You may have a point,” said Grigori, “as it’s becoming harder to breathe.”

They continued into the gang stronghold, and ran into the set of apartments Bernardo sent to them to look for Enrique. Several corpses, destroyed computers, stacks of burnt and shredded documents, and an empty safe in the bedroom were here as well. There was a small lab kit in the bedroom that had been emptied out.

Daniel said, “Bloody hell, we don’t have time to search here, we have to find Enrique—”

Then they heard a door to the roof get slammed open a few doors down.

“Sounds like we just did!” said Grigori.

Daniel nodded, and they ran after him.

They ran along the rooftops, jumping over gaps and parkouring over obstacles. They had to take cover at times and engage in return fire as Enrique had sent his personal guards after them.

Ahead, they saw Enrique was reaching the edge of the rooftops.

“There’s nowhere left to run, Enrique, lower your weapon!”

Enrique looked at the ledge overlooking the valley the favela was in far beneath them, and turned around while raising his hands in the air.

“Now toss your gun aside!” shouted Daniel as they approached him.

Enrique complied, and made a panicked-looking grin.

“Wait--!”

Enrique dropped off the side of the roof back-first.

Grigori quickly ran toward the side of the roof, grabbed onto a TV antenna sticking out of it, leaned off the roof, and fired a grapple line at Enrique that pierced his leg, then yanked it up with all of his strength before Enrique could fall out of range. He then quickly tied the line to the antenna before his strength gave out.

Crouching down with his hands on his knees, Grigori was panting.

Daniel looked down at the Enrique, who was swinging around in mid-air and trying to clutch his leg.

“Forget what I did earlier,” said Daniel while looking at Grigori, “ _that_ was badass.”

“Frankly I surprised myself,” said Grigori, “as heights tend to make me s—” Grigori then proceeded to puke onto the roof’s pavement.

Daniel smirked for a moment, then looked back down at Enrique and frowned.

**Biodomes, The Amazon Rainforest, Brazil**

Megan and Bernardo were in hazmat suits, traversing through a biodome filled with poisonous plants; Megan was carrying a plant sample when Daniel and Grigori called them.

“What is it?” she said into her transmitter.

“We’ve got Enrique in tow,” said Daniel.

“In tow?” said Bernardo.

“He means we caught him. Our mission was hanging on by a thread until now,” said Grigori.

“Bernardo and I secured a sample of the bioweapon they’re going to use on the sites they’re attacking for World Six Meltdown. Something called ‘Fairy Dust’. It’s a plant native to the Amazon that’s harmless to pretty much every species except humans due to the amount of evolution the other species of flora and fauna here have undergone with it.” Megan carefully stepped around the biodome, making sure to stay on the highlighted walkway.

“Wait a minute,” said Grigori, “’Fairy Dust?’ I’ve heard that name before…”

“Remember that black site disaster in Saudi Arabia, Griggs?”

“You mean the site that was where Khaled escaped and nearly killed—”

“The poison was being stored on-site there for some reason. I remember August mentioning it back then.”  
“Damn it, so do I now.”

Megan said, “I guess the Khaled used the Architects’ funds as well as Enrique to refine August’s version of the poison so it can drive people insane, even make them suggestible to mental manipulation, if it doesn’t kill them. This bioweapon is going to kill a lot of people if it gets released.”

“Yeah,” said Daniel, “Enrique said something similar. Looks like Khaled is recruiting victims trafficked from all over the world through Bruce and brainwashing them with Enrique’s poison so they can be turned into Architects. He’s also excavating certain parts of the Amazon to provide land, food, medicine, and some other resources to gain funding and gather additional support for their cause. This is bad news.”

“Did you get any information out of Enrique about where and when the attacks are going to happen?”

“Unfortunately not,” said Griggs. “He took a cyanide pill before we could ask him that part.”

“Shit, then it’s all up to Jack,” said Megan. 

She then looked at several other men in hazmat suits that noticed them while they were spraying chemicals onto the plants in the biodomes.

“Are you on the way to extraction? August says his plane is a few klicks away from where we are right now,” said Daniel.

“I’m going to have to call you two back,” said Megan as she turned off her communicator and picked up a nearby staff on the wall as the men in hazmat suits pulled out identical ones with cattle prods on the back.

“Damn it,” said Bernardo, “those are made out of UltraAlloy!”

“You sure?” yelled Megan.

“Positive! I can’t use my laser cannons in here!”

“Then grab a staff, and don’t let me fall off the path!”

Bernardo and Megan engaged in a melee battle with the men tending to the plants in the biodomes. Megan managed to tear a hole in the first one’s hazmat suit, and kick him off of the path. The man screamed as his skin bubbled and splattered onto the screen of his hazmat suit’s helmet.

“Christ, that poison’s potent!” shouted Megan.

Bernardo used his staff to perform a sweeping motion, knocking the next two guards off of their feet, before stabbing them in their backs with his staff and double-tapping them by stomping on their skulls with his foot.

Megan’s hazmat suit was partially ripped open by one of the guards’ staffs. Despite that she was bleeding a little, Megan quickly impaled the guard with her staff, and electrocuted him with the cattle prod built into it. Another guard tried to kick her off the path, but Bernardo managed to grab her before she fell off, and blocked the man’s staff with his before it was knocked out of his hands. Before Bernardo was zapped, Bernardo threw Megan to safety. Megan’s hazmat suit was starting to slow her down due to how ripped up it was. Bernardo managed to knock the staff out of the last guard’s hand and then decapitated him with a punch to the jaw, knocking him on his back to the ground. Megan crouched to try and rip off the parts of the hazmat suit that were slowing her down when an agonizing pain dug into her back. 

Megan screamed.

“Megan!” yelled Bernardo.

Bernardo grabbed Megan and tried to hold her so she wouldn’t escape his grip, but she kicked and squirmed a lot as she screamed.

“Are you infected?”

“I ran into a spider-web with some sort of green goo on it… It burns!”

Bernardo ripped open her hazmat suit to look at the wound on her back. “Jesus…” he said. He tried his best to heal it with his nanites, but the wound looked like it was permanent. 

“Hang in there; you’re still standing, so that means you’re not dead yet. We have to get to the decontamination room.”

“That’s not going to help the pain go away!”

“Megan, you have to push through! Megan!”

Megan kept screaming.

“CANDIDE!”

Megan stopped screaming for a second.

“What did you call me?”

“I’m going to have to carry you through. If you see any obstacles that I don’t; point them out to me.”

“Wait—”

“On your feet, soldier!” said Bernardo as he picked Megan up and carried her out of the biodomes and into the decontamination chamber.

As the doors shut and air and water was puffed and sprayed all over them, Megan’s Transcendence uniform got soaked.

“Warning: dangerous levels of contamination detected. Cannot let through—”

“ _Sí, sí, sabemos_ , _pedazo de mierda_! (Yes, yes, we know, you piece of shit!)” Bernardo swore as he blasted the decontamination chamber doors open with his lasers and they raced toward the biodome exit.

“I’m calling my boat remotely; there’s a river nearby!” said Bernardo. “Grab onto my wings, Megan! We’re about to go flying!”

Megan did so reluctantly, and next thing she knew she was on Bernardo’s back as he used his jets to leap off of a bridge where reinforcements were showing up, and then they glided through the jungle before the Jeeps surrounding them could reach firing distance.

Megan screamed as Bernardo started to fly lower as the boat approached them on the river beneath them, then he managed to land on the boat and quickly commandeer it. Megan, however, was too busy clutching the wound on her back.

Seeing a set of rapids where the river ended ahead just as hovercraft were chasing after them, Bernardo said while piloting the boat remotely, “Megan, quickly, strap into your seat!”

But seeing Megan’s condition, Bernardo yelled, “Damn it!” and tried to pilot the boat remotely while multitasking and strapping Megan into her seat, then desperately held onto the boat’s floor with his adhesive grips as they entered the rapids.

Bernardo was blinded by the rapids as they thrashed against the boat, knocking it back and forth; he continued to pilot the boat remotely out of desperation despite lacking the vision to do so as it started to flood. He barely managed to avoid hitting several jagged rocks and a wall as the rapids started to go down a set of crooked paths.

Bernardo tried to get back in his seat, and succeeded at some point as the rapids had ended. They were reaching a clearing; the jungle canopy was getting lighter, and it was starting to rain heavily. Just as he managed to see more clearly, he realized that they were coming to the end of the river.

“Oh, shit…”

Bernardo desperately tried to steer backwards while putting the boat’s pilot system on remote and unstrapping Megan from her seat, but the river’s current was getting faster as they neared the edge of the waterfall.

Bernardo managed to unstrap the second last strap tying Megan to her seat when he heard a helicopter behind him. He looked around to find Daniel and Grigori in the back of the helicopter, as Grigori threw a ladder down right in front of the waterfall’s drop.

“Jump, come on!” screamed Daniel over the roar of the waterfall.

“I can’t! One of Megan’s seatbelts is stuck for some reason!”

“Then blast it open or something! Come on, you’re a bloody Ripper!”

“It’s UltraAlloy, and it’s hard to shoot straight now, it might kill her!”

“That’s better than the fucking alternative!”

Bernardo screamed, and ripped open the seatbelt with all his strength.

“MEGAN!” screamed Daniel.

Bernardo grabbed Megan just as the boat began to fall off the waterfall, and used as much fuel as he could to try and boost up toward the ladder’s lowest rung, but his arm’s reach fell a few inches short.

“NO!” screamed Grigori.

Bernardo opened his wings to glide while trying to get a grip on Megan, but smashed himself against a tree branch and dropped her.

As his fuel gauge recharged and he regained his bearings, he boosted himself downward until he caught up to Megan, grabbed her, and then flipped over and shielded her from the water with his body as they collided with it.

… … … … …

A Bernardo with a lot of torn-off flesh and several dents and electricity-emitting parts in his UltraAlloy endoskeleton limped as he carried Megan out of a shallow area of the river, he managed to pull them to, pulled her out of the water, and pushed her onto the grass before falling to his knees.

Crawling toward Megan, the flesh on Bernardo’s face was completely torn off save for his mouth, part of his nose, and his left eye and cheek.

“Stay with me, Candide…” said Bernardo as the veins in his endoskeleton’s exposed UltraAlloy arms turned bright green, along with his exposed eye. He pumped oxygen into her lungs with his hands while using them to push against her chest. Then doing a transhuman version of CPR, he pressed his hands against her mouth and throat to check for and push out any obstructions. He went back to pushing his hands against her chest and injecting oxygen into her lungs.

“Stay with me, Candide!” Bernardo yelled.

Megan’s skin was cold and clammy.

“Damn it, no!” he said as he continued.

Then Megan coughed up water into Bernardo’s face, and then onto the grass.

“Candide!” said Bernardo.

Megan breathed heavily in and out once she had finished coughing up most of the water, then looked up at Bernardo.

Looking at Bernardo’s face, she said, “Did you just…”

“What?” Bernardo then said, “Um… no. I transmitted oxygen to your lungs through the nanites in my hands. Rippers don’t need to breathe, so they don’t use their mou—”

Megan managed to sit up and kiss Bernardo on his good cheek.

“That’s the best I can do for now,” she said.

“I—I understand…” said Bernardo. “That was a hell of a mission.”

“Megan, Bernardo, do you copy?” yelled Daniel into their communicator and BISECT.

“Not so loud, Daniel!” shouted Megan. Looking back at Bernardo, she said, “We’re here.”

“Thank god, I thought we lost you,” said Daniel. “Bernardo, we owe you a bloody ton.”

“It’s nothing,” said Bernardo.

“Speaking of which, where exactly do you mean by here?” said Grigori. “We’re scanning the jungle for you right now; this place is massive, and very rainy.”

“Sending out our coordinates now,” said Bernardo.

“Copy, we’re on our way,” said Daniel.

Megan and Bernardo got up, and Megan hugged Bernardo.

“Thank you,” she said.

“Of course, units have to look out for each other.”

“Not just for that.”

“Oh.” said Bernardo.

Megan said, “If you and I both survive this World Six Meltdown thing… and when it all blows over… we’re getting _tacos carne asada_ together.”

Bernardo smiled as the skin on his face started to heal before her eyes. “I’ll pay. I look forward to it,” he said.

Megan smiled slightly, but then looked back up as the helicopter arrived above them.

“Hop onboard, both of you!” said Daniel. “We’re going back stateside. August’s orders. It’s urgent.”

As Megan and Bernardo climbed up the ladder and boarded the chopper, Megan asked, “Why? For a debriefing?”

Daniel looked out at the storm as the chopper headed back toward Rio de Janeiro toward the airport, where Transcendence’s planes was waiting for them. “No. To stop a World Six Meltdown attack that’s about to happen there. It’s all about to come to a head.”

“What? How do we know?”

“Through Jack. On top of that, she might be in danger.”

**Architects’ Main Sleeper Cell, Sarawat Mountains, Saudi Arabia**

Jack blasted through waves upon waves of incoming Architects in the vicinity, making sure to fire proximity-sensitive energy balls at entry points to the palace while staying close to the laptop so she could continue downloading the heavy amounts of data from it. Her endoskeleton was severely damaged by now, and she couldn’t take the laptop with her because Khaled’s double had drained its battery on purpose; she had to keep it plugged in.

Why Khaled had led her to the World Six Meltdown files and the central server of the Architects, she didn’t know. While it was clear that some of the files had been redacted before she reached it, there was a ton of useful intel on the servers the laptop had access to.

As the Architects became too much for her to fend off at once, she started to hit them with rapid fire blasts in multiple directions with one hand, and powerful spread-shot blasts with another.

Soon the gauges for the batteries on her cannons showed that they needed to recharge themselves also.

Jack started beating the Architects in close quarters combat with her fists and used her laser cannons sparingly, but by now she was so overwhelmed by their numbers that they were already in close quarters anyway.

They were swarming her. The Architects were starting to beat her with more UltraAlloy staffs. 

Then, by some miracle, the laptop had finished downloading.

Jack quickly blasted her way through the Architects about to destroy it, uninstalled her backdoor by holding up her hand to the laptop so the data couldn’t be tracked back to her, and then cut the connection and blasted the laptop herself. 

She then turned around to see the incoming heavily-armored elite Architects carrying light machine guns and flamethrowers, blasted some of them with explosive-charged laser blasts, then blasted a hole in the ceiling, jumped through it with her jets, and blasted the floor beneath to trap the Architects and keep them from following her for the time being.

She quickly ran to the roof of the palace, where several choppers full of Architects were flying past her. Once they spotted her, they spun up their machine guns; not only were they about to fire at her, but they were about to drop bombs too. She likely wouldn’t survive the blast. 

Jack saw that she was facing a field of ruined airplanes and the leftover wreckage behind the palace, where dozens of guards were loading themselves into technicals and hovercraft. Past that was a set of fortress walls and a drop leading into the mountains.

Jack may not have been high up enough to be able to glide over the fortress walls, but she had to give it a try.

She quickly jumped off the palace, and glided through the airfield as the choppers dropped bombs on the palace behind her, sending chunks of debris flying. One of them missed her by under a yard.

She tried to use her jets to accelerate and dodge bullets the terrorists both beneath and above her were firing at her; her cannons were too low on batteries to return fire though. Worse, she was about to hit the fortress wall!

Thinking quickly, she saw that a large sphere-shaped package held in UltraAlloy shell containers were being held up by a large industrial set of wires by several of the helicopters flying above her. She grappled up to it with her grapple wire launcher, and manage to zip upward high enough to barely miss the fortress walls. 

She had now made it successfully out of the base.

Looking up, and then back toward the fortress, she thought to herself, _you’d think they’d be sending more Architects after me now then they are. Maybe it’s because I’m tethered to a helicopter with some high-priority Architects commanders in them that they don’t want to risk shooting them down with the mobile SAMs._

Jack looked at the convoy of choppers; interestingly enough, they were all carrying more of the sphere-shaped UltraAlloy containers. 

_Whatever’s in those things can’t be good. I have to bring down this convoy._

Jack was trying to skim through the data that was on their servers about said containers, as she climbed up on top of the container she had grappled to, but the sheer amount of data she had uploaded to August’s cloud was impossible to sift through at a rate where it’d be likely for her to find anything.

Jack tried to grapple toward the helicopter while holding onto the container’s industrial wire it was tethered to, but her grappling wire was too small and short to reach the helicopter.

_Why do these wires have to be so long; they have to fly at a ridiculous altitude for those things to stay up!_

Jack then decided to use her adhesive grip to climb up the wires. She used her enhanced limb movement speed to do it reasonably quick despite how long she had to climb for.

When she finally got to the top of the helicopter, Jack climbed around the floor of the helicopter to the cockpit with her adhesive grip, then hoisted herself up toward the door, opened it, and yanked the terrorist in the passenger seat out to fall to his death.

The terrorist piloting the helicopter said in Arabic, “What the fuck— oh no!” before Jack climbed into the passenger seat, punched him hard in the face, and kicked his limp body off his side of the helicopter.

Jack quickly held up her hand toward the helicopter’s controls to remotely steady the helicopter before it veered out of control. 

A radio came on in the cockpit; the voice spoke in Arabic. “Rook Seven, this is Bishop. We saw you veer out of control for a moment even though we’re clear of the sandstorm and the King’s Corner in Sarawat. Is there a problem, over.”

 _King’s Corner must’ve been the stronghold,_ Jack thought. _Fuck, I’m starting to hate radio conversations._

A guard came into the cockpit, saying, “Hey, what happened earlier—”

Jack held her laser cannon up at his neck, saying in Arabic, “Absolute silence.”

The guard, appearing terrified, said, “Y- you don’t know what you’re carrying, Ripper.”

“You mean my laser cannon?”

“N- no! I mean, no, that’s not what I mean! You’re—”

They were interrupted by the radio again. “I repeat, Rook Seven, this is Bishop. What’s wrong, and are you experiencing turbulence, over.”

Jack gestured with her eyes over to the radio. “My voice isn’t disguised and the pilots are dead. You do the talking, or you and all the terrorists back there are dead men.”

“Fuck… you stupid bitch, we’re _all_ dead men now because of you!” 

“Make it sound convincing, please.”

Getting into the passenger’s seat, the terrorist, sweating buckets through his mask, picked up the radio and said, “This is Rook Seven, over.”

“Rook Seven, why didn’t you answer your radio a second ago, over! We’re supposed to keep communication tight during this chess game—wait a second. You’re not Rook Seven, just one of his players!”

“M- my apologies, sir. Rook Seven- I- I assume you mean the pilot- is ill, along with my CO who was in the passenger seat. I had to take over while he put the plane on autopilot.”  
“Shit, that’s bad. You don’t think leakage from the package you’re carrying got to him, did you?”

“No sir- I mean, I don’t know, sir!”

“Calm down! Like I said, we have to keep it tight. The packages we’re carrying are key to the chess game, over.”

Jack whispered to the terrorist. 

The terrorist said, “What chess game, over?”

“Are you an idiot? You know what we’re talking about!”

“Sir, my apologies! I don’t know what I’m doing!” the terrorist said through gritted teeth while staring in anger at Jack. 

Jack gestured with her hand for the terrorist to continue. 

“I don’t know what the object of interest that the codename is referring to, over.”

“Fine. The chess game is referring to World Six Meltdown.”

Jack whispered to the terrorist again.

“What is the package we’re carrying, over.”

“Oh, dear god, you definitely are an idiot! You should at least know what the damn package is! Look, just return to your assigned seat; since your chopper’s on autopilot, you should be okay to make it to Europe. Once your chopper reaches Tuscany, await further instructions. If the pilot and CO are both still sick by then, then we’re going to have a serious problem on our hands. And not just when it comes to landing!”

“I know, sir. Rook Seven, out.” The terrorist looked at Jack as he hung up the radio. “What are you going to do now, American?”

Jack said to the terrorist, “What’s the package and why are you taking it to Tuscany?”

“The fact that you haven’t figured it out yet truly is terrifying. I can’t believe they sent you out here to fight us alone.”

“Then I assume you can’t believe I’m still alive, either.”

“You’re going to get us all killed!”

“That’s the idea.” Jack said.

“Fine! It’s the bioweapon inside the UltraAlloy containers!”

“Shit. Fairy Dust.”

“Then you know how dangerous it is!” said the terrorist.

Jack thought for a moment. _These containers full of Fairy Dust are going to places all over Europe… Maybe I can stop, or at least partially stop World Six Meltdown if I take all these choppers out in one go._

Jack looked at the clear desert sky outside the chopper’s windshield; the sun was blinding. “If you’re going to take these packages to disperse poison throughout Europe, then it’s probably best I don’t let you and the other choppers get anywhere near there. Now that we’re outside of Sarawat, we’re in the middle of nowhere. Would it matter if I dropped the package so it doesn’t go to Europe, and so I can catch up to the other choppers and destroy their packages? I doubt it.”

“No… that’s crazy… you can’t!”

As Jack searched for the button to release the industrial wiring holding the UltraAlloy container up, the terrorist attempted out of desperation to grab Jack. He then yelled into the back of the chopper, “Men, help!” He picked up the radio, “Mayday, mayday! The Ripper is onboard Rook Seven’s chopper, I repeat—”

Jack tried to break his neck to shut him up, but in the midst of the struggle, her elbow accidentally slammed against a red button.

Then the package dropped.

The terrorist looked down in horror and started praying to Allah before all hell broke loose.

The blinding light and deafening noise that followed was like nothing she had ever experienced before. Then as a blast violent enough to make the Earth shake, the helicopter started to explode and fly out of control. Jack shut her eyes for a moment, then when she opened them and the ringing cleared, she heard the terrorists in the back screaming as they fell out of the falling helicopter.

_What the hell… ?_ Jack thought as she saw the other choppers ahead of and behind her falling out of the sky one at a time as well, along with the packages… like a set of falling dominoes, knocking each other out of the sky with nuclear bombs. 

More of the blinding, bright red mushroom clouds appeared in a chain reaction in the distance as the choppers’ packages collided with the ground.

_What have I done…_

Jack reached for the plane’s controls and tried to steer the joystick manually out of desperation, but the controls were shot and emitting fire, smoke, and electricity. As Jack saw the chopper nearing the ground, she opened the pilot’s door, and jumped for her life, trying to glide out of the whirlwind of sand full of red poison in the air, only to get hurled into the maelstrom as she tried to use her jets to fly for her life.

By some impossible miracle, she landed and crashed into a pile of sand soft enough to dampen her fall along with her jets, which had aligned in the right direction moments before her landing. Still, she was thrown across the ground, rolling and crashing until her endoskeleton was barely able to function. Her skin had been completely ripped off, and the electric bolts were eating away at her endoskeleton.

She tried to get up, but some of the actuators and other parts of her legs were broken. She crawled with her arms across the sand, not even aware of where she was going, until she realized she was in the ruins of a small rural town.

Sarawat.

Corpses lay all around her, bubbling with pus and blood that was oozing into the sand, ash, and dirt. Some of the locals had survived for the moment; they walked out of their homes that had been set ablaze. Some of them were on fire and burned to death, some of them were oozing like the corpses until they fell to the floor, and some just shook and held their hands to their heads like they were going insane.

Jack couldn’t crawl any further; didn’t want to. She turned onto her back, and looked up at the sun obscured by the bright red dust in the air.

She wanted to be somewhere else. Anywhere but here.

Her metallic body began to convulse, and she held her hands to her head as her veins lit up a bright electronic purple and she began to howl while she lay in the dirt, her voice sounding robotic, demonic, and inhuman.

… … … … …

**Transcendence Company Plane, Brazilian Airspace**

And suddenly she was somewhere else. She felt happy again. She was with Daniel, Megan, and Grigori. They had completed their mission. They were a little wounded, but they were together, and on their way to their next mission.

And she felt something about Megan that surprised her.

Then, to her horror, she realized her feelings weren’t her own.

_No… this is really happening… it’s happening again… I’m in another Ripper’s body… with Daniel, Megan, and Grigori… If they find out about what happened… I can’t let them know, I can’t! And if this Ripper starts to feel what I’m feeling right now… Please, go back to Sarawat! PLEASE!_

Grigori said to Megan, “So you two aren’t official yet, are you?”

Megan said, “Fuck off, Grigori.”

Daniel said, “I’m glad you’re in one piece, Megan.”

Bernardo began to start shaking, and his hands began to rise up towards his head.

“And I’m glad you’re in one piece, Ber- Bernardo? What’s going on? Are you okay?”

And then Bernardo began to howl uncontrollably, and grasp his head as his body started trembling and convulsing.

“Bernardo? What’s going on?” shouted Megan.

He started to rip off the skin on his face that had healed, revealing his endoskeleton.

“Bernardo, stop! BERNARDO!”

Megan ran toward Bernardo to try and restrain him, only for Bernardo to shove Megan to the ground; Megan screamed in response.

“What the fuck? Megan!” yelled Grigori.

“What the bloody hell’s wrong with you!” yelled Daniel.

Wide-eyed, Bernardo looked at Megan, and started to stop shaking, but his eyes did not shut any further, and his mouth had twisted and contorted into a terrifying frown.

“…hell… I just saw hell…”

“What’s he talking about?” said Daniel.

“Bernardo, calm down… everything’s all right. I’ll be okay,” said Megan. “What happened?”

Still trembling, Bernardo said, “The- the desert… mushroom clouds… red, very red… the bioweapon… the Architects… World Six Meltdown…”

Grigori, Megan, and Daniel looked at Bernardo out of pure confusion initially as he rambled on. “I was… in the body of another woman… in Sarawat… A palace, a castle… Aidan, a dead Ripper on the ground…”

“Aidan?” said Megan.

“Wait a minute, wasn’t he that scientist that August said got kidnapped recently?” said Grigori.

“He is that scientist.” Daniel said as he frowned, his face suggesting he was starting to put together the pieces of the puzzle.

Bernardo began to tremble again as he said, “I saw… memories… they were Khaled’s… in Kabul… his family was killed… They burned his entire town to the ground… he was forced to shoot his baby sister… he…” Bernardo looked up at the three, and then started to grimace. “You… you were the ones that killed his family! YOU KILLED HIS FAMILY! YOU CREATED THE ARCHITECTS, YOU DID! ALL OF YOU!”

Bernardo howled demonically, and Daniel and Grigori tried to restrain him, but he ended up throwing them into the walls of the plane.

“Bernardo, please stop!” yelled Megan.

Bernardo was holding up his laser cannon towards Megan’s head.

“Bernardo, please…” said Megan as she started to cry. “It’s me… Megan… it’s me… it’s Megan… it’s… it’s Candide.”

Bernardo looked at Megan in disbelief, then at his arm he was pointing at her, and lowered it.

“I’m sorry…” he said. “But I don’t think I can forgive you. I saw hell. I saw hell!” Bernardo buried his head in his hands.

As Daniel and Grigori got up, Grigori hacked up phlegm, and said, “What the hell was that? Why’d he do that?”

Megan said, “I… I don’t understand… he was talking about the time we took down the remnants of _Alqua._ One of them was Khaled’s father. How’d he know about that?”

Grigori said, “Wait, what? That doesn’t make sense... That makes no fucking sense! Bernardo wasn’t there.”

Grimacing, Daniel said, “No, he wasn’t there… He wasn’t in Kabul, and he wasn’t in Sarawat either… But I think we all know someone who’s there right now.”

Grigori and Megan looked at Daniel.

“What are you talking about, Dan?” said Megan.

“I’m not sure yet. Call it a hunch.” Daniel turned on the television in the plane and switched to the news.

_“…word is a chain nuclear explosions of some kind just occurred in rural Saudi Arabia…”_

_“…strange red gas clouds spreading through Sarawat and towards the rest of the peninsula…”_

_“…rumors of an Architects base hidden in Saudi Arabia have begun to surface…”_

_“…doesn’t make sense that they’d attack Saudi Arabia given that a large portion of the Architects are Arabic themselves…”_

_“…could this have something to do with World Six Meltdown?”_

_“…satellite and local footage coming in now from Riyadh, warning to viewers, the images you’re about to see are very disturbing.”_

Megan, Daniel, and Grigori looked at the footage on the news.

“Oh my god…” said Megan.

“What the hell did you just do, Jack…” said Daniel.

… … … … …

**Transcendence Company Plane, US Airspace**

Jack woke up with her endoskeleton fixed. Eyes wide, she looked around, but she was strapped down to an UltraAlloy gurney. Her senses were starting to return.

“Is she all right?” she heard a familiar voice say.

“Yes, sir,” said an unfamiliar male voice. “Fortunately, another Ripper in the area managed to find her in the desert among the fallout. They managed to salvage her consciousness and upload it to the cloud. The copy has been uploaded to her new body, identical the prior one at your request.”

“Good. Thank God,” said August. “Hopefully she’s still sane enough to help stop World Six Meltdown given what happened. Despite the setbacks, her mission was more of a success than she’ll be given credit for.”

“There’s one other problem, sir…”

“Yes?”

“The Ripper that found her… was being put under heavy surveillance by Providence.”

“Damn it.”

Jack was onboard a Transcendence company plane, in the transhuman infirmary.

A male doctor said to her, “Jacqueline Newman… can you hear me?”

“Yes,” said Jack, shaking her head to snap out of her trance. _My voice feels different even though it’s the same… so does everything else…_ Jack says, _damn it… I’m another copy! My old consciousness’s copy is gone!_

“…and my name’s Jack,” she said.

The doctor smiled and said, “August told me you’d say that. I’m going to run some tests on your BISECT for a few minutes during our ride to—”

“Outta my way!” yelled Daniel as he, Megan, Grigori, and two of the Transcendence mercs she met during her training, Chris and Terrence, came in.

The doctor stepped aside as Daniel said to Jack, “What the hell happened in Sarawat, Jack?”

Trembling, Jack said, “I didn’t know…”

“You didn’t know what?”

“I didn’t know that the Fairy Dust bioweapon was placed into nuclear bombs as replacement payloads!”

“So what? You just dropped them in the middle of Saudi Arabia? Fucking _nukes?_ ”

“I didn’t know…”

“I want to hear what happened on your mission,” said Daniel. “Go through the details. All of them. Now!”

Trying to retrace her thoughts, Jack said, “Initially the mission went off without a hitch… I managed to get into the base undetected, but I discovered an underground research facility where they were developing the Fairy Dust, testing it on prisoners… turning them into terrorists.”

“When did the mission go wrong?”

“I hacked into the laboratory security cameras and found Aidan, being tortured to death by Khaled.”

The three looked at each other for a moment. Daniel said, “Go on.”

“Someone managed to detect my hack into their security systems, then they informed Khaled. He killed Aidan, and then ordered the CO in charge of the sleeper cell to fry his BISECT… He was a Ripper too.

“I… I had to rush to link my BISECT with his… That CO’s BISECT contained the encryption key to the Architects’ servers! So, I connected with his BISECT, and… and…”

“And what?”

Deciding to avoid talking about what she saw in the Ripper’s head, Jack said, “I got the encryption key… I managed to hack into Khaled’s laptop, and got the information on World Six Meltdown from the Architects’ servers…”

“That checks out, Dan,” said Grigori.

“Then how’d you end up detonate a chain of nukes in the middle of the desert?”

“I was overwhelmed,” said Jack. “I barely made it out of the base alive… I managed to escape by grappling onto one of the helicopters carrying the nukes to Europe. Once I found out they were going to Europe, I… I should’ve known… I should’ve known they were nukes before I dropped them… I thought it’d be safe if whatever was in the containers was dropped in the middle of the desert.”

“Wait, what?” said Chris.

“That’s nuts!” said Terrence.

Pacing around, Daniel said, “I shouldn’t have trusted August; shouldn’t have let him tell me to put my trust in you. You don’t have what it takes to be a soldier!”

Megan said, “There’s one thing you left out though.”

“What do you mean?” Jack said.

Grigori said, “Did Khaled see you?”

_They must know._

Jack said, “I killed his double.”

“Did he tell you anything about us?” said Megan, crossing her arms.

Terrified, Jack remembered the traumatic memory where they forced her to nearly shoot an infant while in the shoes of a teenage Khaled.

“What do you mean?”

“Don’t play dumb with us, Jack! We ain’t got time for that!” shouted Daniel.

Jack decided to tell them the truth. “Khaled… implanted his memories inside the Ripper’s head… and when I hacked into his BISECT… I experienced them myself from his point of view. I watched the three of you kill his family… burn his childhood home to the ground in Kabul… force him to nearly shoot his baby sister… and then you shot her yourself. August experimented on him for years after you took him away… then almost killed him before he escaped.”

The others looked at each other.

“How could you do such horrible things?”

“We did what we were told to,” said Daniel, “unlike you. His father was a high-ranking officer of _Alqua._ Our hands may have blood on them, but his hands weren’t exactly clean either. Remember what I told you in training? War ain’t about right or wrong, it’s about coming out of the other side the victor. That’s how you create peace. That’s how you save as many people as possible. 

“And now, while you might have just saved Europe from utter annihilation, you also just contaminated a large portion of Saudi Arabia… If the poison spreads to Mecca and Medina… You may well have just become the Architects’ number one recruiter!”

Frowning, Jack said quietly, “Maybe I screwed up. But Khaled wouldn’t be so motivated to destroy the world if you didn’t do the things to him that you did.”

Now the others were really upset.

“So, you were inside Khaled’s head.” said Grigori.

“No, from the way you’re talking, Jack, it sounds more like Khaled got inside yours!” said Daniel.

Megan said, “There’s something else you’re not telling us. A friend of ours was driven insane recently; he was a Ripper too.”

Grigori said to Daniel, “You want to explain your theory now, Danny?”

Daniel said, “If Khaled managed to share his consciousness with you… if that’s part of the BISECT’s capabilities… then did you share your consciousness with our friend we met in Brazil?”

“You mean the one I saw through the eyes of when you were on a plane?”

“That’s the one,” said Megan. “He’s been traumatized beyond recognition now. Isn’t fit for combat any longer.”

“He must’ve seen what I was seeing when the nukes went off. My mind couldn’t take it when I realized what I had done… I wanted to be somewhere else, anywhere else… Next thing I knew, I was in… Bernardo’s… body… at least for a moment.

“I still don’t understand why my BISECT has been doing that lately… I never programmed them to do anything like that, I swear! The first time I experienced it was in Geneva, and then in Guangzhou… Both times I was in the body of a Chinese prostitute named Yun…”

Starting to connect the dots, Jack said, “The first time, I was terrified of giving a speech for August’s tech demo in Geneva, and I ended up in Yun’s body when she was raped by an Architect…. The next time, I was fine until I left my body and entered Yun’s… I was with you again, and you were in Macau… in trouble… But I wasn’t the one who was scared initially… Based on what I was feeling when I entered her body… I think it was Yun.”

The others looked at each other again suspiciously as Jack said, “I know what I’m saying makes no sense… it still doesn’t entirely make sense to me either…”

Jack then remembered something Khaled said to her when they shared consciousnesses.

_“It’s time you start to wake up to the reality you’re trapped in, Jack the Ripper. To see the cage is to free yourself from it. Only then will you manage to survive and save the world. Otherwise, you will end up a dead Ripper, like my friend. You are looking at him right now, are you not? Your friend August is lying to you. You want to know what is happening to your mind right now, and what happened in Guangzhou, and Geneva? Then wake up, Jack. WAKE UP!”_

Jack frowned. “August must know something about this.”

“What makes you say that?” said Grigori.

“Khaled can’t possibly have the technology to be able to hack into the Rippers’ BISECTs, let alone link them together in a way like this.”

“Yet he still managed to hack into yours,” said Megan.

“But he had to have stolen that tech from Transcendence! Just like… just like the Fairy Dust.”

“You’re starting to sound like he’s turned you,” said Daniel.

The others were staring at Jack in anger when August appeared on one of the communicator screens on the plane.

“August, I told you Jack wasn’t bloody ready!” shouted Daniel.

August said to Daniel, “If you’re going to blame someone for this catastrophe, Daniel, blame it on me. In the meantime, Jack managed to get us more intel on the Architects than we’ve ever gotten before.”

“How do we know it’s credible?” said Daniel. “It sounds like Khaled _wanted_ Jack to find it. You sent her to take on the Architects in Saudi Arabia; instead of collecting intel that we’re certain is credible, she may have given us a bunch of red herrings. Instead of killing the real Khaled, she killed a double that got into her head somehow, and instead of finding a way to stop World Six Meltdown, she might as well have just been a part of it given what just went down in Sarawat!”

“It _is_ credible!” shouted August. “While a lot of the intel on their servers was redacted by the time Jack accessed them, she managed to pinpoint the locations where the Architects are going to deploy the Fairy Dust in World Six Meltdown! Jack managed to prevent the attacks from happening in Europe. However, there are attacks on the other five continents that we still need to stop. We’ve traced the sleeper cells they’re shipping the poison supplies from to Lima, Singapore, Kashmir, Johannesburg, Miami, and Tuscany. Jack wiped out the supplies being shipped to Tuscany. And the locations they’re targeting line up with the Architects’ motives!”

“But why?” said Megan. “Why would Khaled want us to know these locations?”

“He must be taunting us. He’s becoming overconfident. That’s how we’ll have to bring him down.”

“How can we be so certain we’ll bring him down though based just on all of this?” said Grigori.

“We’re certain we’ll bring him down because we _have_ to bring him down, damn it!” August shouted. “This is an unprecedented attack on the free world. Tens of millions of people are going to die if we don’t act now.”

“But the attacks are about to go off simultaneously…” said Jack. “How do we go after them all?”

“I’ve alerted global authorities by sharing some of the intel you found with them, Jack,” said August. “As for you, you can only go after one attack site. For us, it’s a GMO mega-farm in Iowa that’s responsible for creating a significant portion of the US’s food supply.”

“Wait a minute…” said Jack. “You mentioned Kashmir. If they poison Kashmir’s water supply… that’ll starve most of India, Pakistan, and China!”

“That’s nearly a third of the world’s population dead from just that attack alone…” said Grigori.

“And Singapore and Lima both are nearby large forests. Poisoning those forests will make humans unable to access them to acquire medicines for treatment,” said Megan. 

“Not to mention South Africa and Europe are both known for discriminating against poor people of color. The Architects may think they’re doing the world a favor, but they’re making a grave mistake. They’re about to wage near-absolute genocide on the entire human race,” said Daniel.

“Jack did what she could,” said August, “and frankly, despite the repercussions, she just saved an entire continent when most of us are about to have trouble saving just tiny portions of the world.”

“In the short-term,” said Daniel.

“There’s only so much one person can do to save the world, Daniel!” said August. 

The others went silent for a moment.

Jack said, “August?”

“Yes, Jack?”

“Did… did you find a way to link the BISECTs of the Rippers working for you?”

“Did I what?”

“August, please! Something is seriously wrong with my BISECT, and I know I didn’t program it! Khaled said you know what’s going on?”

“And you’d rather trust a terrorist over me?”

“No, August!” yelled Jack. “I want to fix my BISECT so I can fight without being driven insane! Along with the BISECTs of everyone else who becomes a Ripper! This is my invention! You said it yourself, it’s the future, and it’s inevitable, so we have to make sure it’s safe for people to use!” Jack said, “Not to mention that if World Six Meltdown succeeds… chances are a lot of people will have to become Rippers if they want to survive.”

“All right,” said August. “Once this is over, I promise I’ll let you look into the BISECT neural network’s OS. I’m planning to build it into a global network over time, like a transhuman version of the Internet. However, that was what Camille and her new team was working on before she committed suicide. Ever since, her team has been difficult to manage; perhaps that’s why there’s this so-called ‘glitch’ in the system. Maybe a genius like you can figure it out, Jack.”

“Okay, thank you, August,” said Jack. She was still processing what August just told her when she remembered something Aidan had said to her right before he died.

_“Camille… she didn’t kill herself. And Victoria found out what she did… the Rippers… their thoughts, their memories… all of them, they’re… hell… she didn’t know what she was getting into… none of us did…”_

Jack’s eyes went wide as she thought of this.

“Jack?” said August. “Is everything all right?”

“Yes- August,” Jack replied, “everything’s all right.”

“Thank god. That’s good,” August said, “because we’re going to need you to help stop World Six Meltdown in Iowa.”

Daniel said, “No, I’m against it.”

“Same,” said Grigori.

“What do you mean?” said August.

“She’s not ready to be a soldier, August!” yelled Daniel.

“ENOUGH!” shouted Megan.

Jack, August, and the others turned to look at her now.

“My back is fucking killing me from the poison goo that burned it in the biodomes. My heart hurts from the loved ones I’ve lost over the years. Grigori’s lungs are shriveling up from smoking too much weed, and Daniel’s been yelling so goddamned much he’s this close to having an aneurysm! We’re going up against an army of Architects while we’re on the verge of dying! We _need_ a Ripper. We need Jack the Ripper. 

“Let’s put it to a vote. I vote for Jack coming with us on the mission,” said Megan.

“I vote for as well,” said August. 

“Griggs and I vote against,” said Daniel.

“For,” said Chris.

“Against,” said Terrence.

“That’s a tie,” said Grigori.

“Then I guess it’s up to you to break the tie, Jack the Ripper,” said Daniel, frowning as he folded his arms. “Are you coming with us, or do we need to drop you off at the nearest airport on the way to Iowa?”

Jack looked at the others, and then August. She initially thought of Caitlin, but then she thought of Khaled, and how she was dead-set on killing him, and preventing him from destroying the world any more than he already has.

“I vote for,” said Jack.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for those who read this! Also I would love to hear potential feedback if possible; feel free to let me know what you think of it in the comments! I'll be back with the next chapter!


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